A Shadow's Heart
by MysteryFictions
Summary: Ren has been amongst the League of Shadows as an ally to her fellow members, a sister to Talia, and a respected adversary to Bane. But, in their mission to turn Gotham to ashes Ren is starting to uncover feelings that she has always tried to push away. This time she can't. Can these feelings mean the end of everything she has worked hard for? Respect? Honor? Friendship? Or better?
1. WORDS

**This is for all of you who loved A Shadows Heart in my Dark Knight Previews. It is highly suggested you read that before you start this. If there is a point where I have to decide which story, the Joker fanfiction or this one, to continue with. I would like it to be your decision. Leave a comment stating which story you would like me to continue, if I end up having to choose. Please read the Previews first, you can find them in the stories tab of my bio, this way you new comers won't be confused :)**

 **Chapter 1: Words**

Darkness... It surrounds the world like an abyss, in her mind, her dreams, her heart, her very soul. It has no light and nothing around her has it... She stared in deep thought as the numbers on the elevator went up. She stood with a straight posture, a black coat hanging from her shoulders, buttoned up to her neck. Her hair was braided back, it had become rather cold outside in Gotham.

There was resounding ding and the elevator doors slid open, her heart skipped a beat when she saw who was on the other side. It was Bane. The man she was just about to go see about a particular issue with the courts. His hands gripped tightly onto the edges of his furry coat and he gave a curt nod. "Ren." It was a simple name, it wasn't her real name, in fact she never knew what her real name was because she had forgotten it completely. His voice always dragged it out when he said it, despite it being three letters, he knew how to pronounce each one with such a verbose beauty. He entered the elevator to stand beside her. "I know of the issue. I have Barsad who is supposed to meet us in the courts to address it."

"The people are already out of control." She replied, it had been what she was thinking. It was hard to believe that three weeks ago, they were beneath the city hiding in the sewers like pests.

"It is their city and they have little time left, what do you expect? The people of this cruel world will do anything in their last moments."

"They need order." Bane placed a hand on her shoulder and her eyes flashed up to meet his. She loved his eyes... She loved them so much. They reminded her of dirt and dirt reminded her of the earth and the earth was her favorite element.

"We provide them with this order. The order and justice that is rightfully deserved." He claimed, his grip not threatening, but exhilarating. These past few weeks had been a horror, between crashing the city's stock exchange to blowing up a football field and promoting the decay of a nuclear reactor.

It was horror and hard-work, but she liked it. She liked it because she was beside Bane, she knew he wouldn't ever think of her in that manner, but she certainly did. She was obsessed with the man and her obsession had only grown worse when Talia suggested that she may be by his side more often. She loved how his mask accented his words and how his muscles bulged when he would walk. She was purely in love with the man, meditation had not helped the least. It was growing worse, it was harder to hide... She would turn beat red in the cheeks or her breath would stagger, luckily he never noticed the district changes in her behavior.

Then of course the fact that they used the same floor of Wayne Tower for housing made things worse. She would take her clothes in the bathroom so that she wouldn't have to cross the scale of the apartment to get to her provided bedroom. The same could not be said for her masked infatuation, he would walk across the floor in nothing, but a towel, dripping in wetness remaining ignorant to her absent stares.

She had grown far to attached to Bane and she hated herself for it. She hated herself for betraying her friend every second she dreamed of what Bane could do to her if he had found out of her secret crush on him. She was glad with herself that Talia had not found out, her mostly stoic personality allowed little to no suspicion. She still worried, not that they could ever assume something without there being rumors or some distant push in that direction, but it was plausible.

She hated herself for being jealous. She was jealous that Talia had the right to do whatever she wanted to Bane, but merely gave him kisses on the forehead or cheek. While Ren would imagine kissing him everywhere and doing everything to him, his hands holding her and touching her ravenously. He was a man and every man had desires- No not desires, in Bane's case it would be dreams. Dreams because he would never feel Talia's touch or sate his ever growing lust, if he had much of lust at all. Lust was a powerful thing when it came to a man and how Bane had such great control over his body, Ren did not know. She definitely did not harbor this control, she couldn't even meditate or keep proper balance when thinking of Bane.

He was the embodiment of everything she wanted in a man and how she could never get him... How she could only look from afar. It killed her. The elevator opened and both Bane and Ren exited it side by side. Together they gave off a whirl of intimidation that struck fear into the souls that passed them everyday and this fear was powerful to them both, but the thing that made them equal was they knew how to use it. Bane and Ren were similar in ways; ways of emotion and strategy, they had very clear mind sets and knew exactly what their plan of action was. They were along the lines of constant usage of pure intelligence and brawn alone as their game play.

"So, you witnessed what had happened, give me my report." Bane began, there was usually something that needed their attention. They had started the fire, now all they needed to do was contain it until it was time to let it go.

"One of the accused, a low beat, good for nothing insurance agent, who stole money from his clients had gotten it in with a gang. When they found out he was being put up for trial, they came for him before he was pulled to execution and dragged him away to do their worst."

"Then what?" Bane held the door open to Wayne tower as Ren walked through and he came treading up alongside her.

"The gang was apprehended as was the insurance agent, but the people aren't happy about it. They want the insurance agent to pay with torture, not immediate death and they want the gang released."

"So we torture him and release the gang." She stopped walking and blankly watched as he continued down the sidewalk towards the large tank like vehicle that drove them to their destinations. Mercenaries surrounded Wayne tower, carrying their heavy machine guns and keeping civilians away from the area. Bane stopped and turned to face Ren who was now a few feet away.

"I do not agree with that." She said softly, it wasn't her defiance, it was her belief. Her and Bane did not see eye to eye at times, no matter how similar they were.

"So you do not want the people to be satisfied is what you are saying?" Bane waited for her answer, she stuttered slightly, drawn in by his masculine form, she eventually came up with an answer.

"If the people are satisfied..." She started to take steps towards him, till she was at a much closer distance, but still comfortable to her. "They will continue to think that they can do this, more court decisions will be intervened by the people and they will think that it will always be their choice. We will gradually lose their respect." Bane nodded his head, considering her words. He knew she had knowledge pertaining to the details of their mission, but never understanding them.

"Yes, but it is the people's city now. So we give them what they want and if they do not give us what we want in return..." He took in a deep raspy breath. "Then they shall suffer the consequences."

* * *

 _She was sitting there, relaxing, having a moment of silence in the many hours of sleeplessness and arduous work to prepare for their conquest on Gotham. Where she was sitting had everything to do with how much relaxation time she would receive. They were in Daggot's Penthouse, a nice place, but not Ren's type. She had told Bane when they arrived, that she could not wait to leave and he simply agreed._

 _Daggot continued to be arrogant and think that he was in charge of Bane, that because he paid Bane that gave him the ultimate rank. She closed her eyes and laid back into the leather couch, she had turned off the TV because it was growing annoying hearing of the Bat constantly. She was still in her coat, her hair sprawled out in all directions under the fine black leather._

 _"Ahh... I see someone is comfortable with the accommodations." His voice made her sick, how charming he thought he was as he stalked over to the couch with his martinet glass in one hand and his other hand shoved into the pocket of his dress pants. She wanted him to leave, but the moment she sat down her eyes flashed open and she was standing again. "Oh come on, sweetheart. Just relax a little." He leaned back into the couch, eyes trailing up and down her curvy body._

 _He took another sip of his drink, before placing it down. "You know, I've never seen a woman like you before. You really have it all together and you are so strong." She rolled her eyes, begging that Bane walk through the door and give her permission. Permission to kill the motherfucker. "Quiet to. He must like that. Are you two a thing or are you open for business?" He was referring to Bane and her, although she liked the idea this rumor was untrue._

 _"I'm not open for any business." She ground out as Daggot continually incensed her behavior._

 _"So you two are..." He stood up from the couch and walked over to stand directly behind her as she had turned her back to him in her annoyance. "I am interested, how that works. Does he pleasure you-"_

 _"I never said that we were a thing." She growled out, he reached a hand up and fiddled with a strand of her hair._

 _"Oh darling, that's good. Have you ever been pleasured before?" She turned red with both anger and embarrassment, spinning around to grab the wrist of the hand he had used to touch her hair and flipping it so he was in a painful position, one move and she could easily break his arm. He was on his knees before her, hissing with pain at the irregular movement and grip of her hand that he could not break from. She was about to do it, she was about to kill him._

 _"Ren." She looked up at Bane in response, who stood at the door, leaning against the frame and waiting. "What did we talk about?"_

 _"He was saying-"_

 _"I know, what he was saying. I heard it." Bane's voice sounded different, instead of his low grumble, it came out as a growl. She wasn't afraid... But Daggot was. She released Daggot and stepped back, she looked down at him, her eyes leaving a warning in his wake. "We have more important things to tend to." She walked over to him. "You are good at hacking things. I need you to hack this." He lifted up a cellphone, it was just an average cellphone and easy enough a task to hack. She snatched it from him, but he quickly caught her hand in his gently and pulled her closer to his chest. She was wide eyed and taken aback by the sudden movement. "Do not listen..." He whispered so only she could hear. "Do not let flimsy minds distract your beautiful intelligence." She tensed, he released her hand and allowed her to pass him. Those words haunted her, they fed her obsession. He had called her beautiful..._


	2. DEATH

**To those of you who reviewed, thank you so much for your kind feedback. I hope you enjoy this chapter just as much as the first. My goal will be to try and update every Tuesday or Friday night.**

 **Chapter 2: Death**

When Bane and Ren arrived at the courthouse, it was flooded with naysayers and protesters to the government that Bane had constructed while in his power. Crane was sitting atop his thrown, where law books were cluttered into piles and expensive clothing was shredded and laid to rest in its decor. Bane stepped out into the crowd, breaking its surface, they allowed him a pathway and the room silenced at the sight of him. His eyes scanned around the room, there were no weapons, signs alone being carried by those who thought themselves to be in the utter sense of the word **free**.

"What is the meaning of this?" Bane asked in a sarcastic manner, looking up at Crane who held his high and mighty for the world to see. Ren came up alongside Bane and crossed her arms, Barsad stepped up behind them, but didn't say a word.

"We want that man killed for what he has done." It was quiet as the crowd waited for Bane's answer, he turned around to stare down at Ren. His eyes always had a way of holding such emotion, in this case aggression. He was violent when angered, he despised the fact that people of Gotham had become so selfish and greedy, but he soon calmed himself and thought to there mission. He thought of the outcome. He thought for Talia.

"Very well then... Send him in." Bane's voice carried such disinterest, he grabbed Ren's arms and guided her a step back as two of his mercenaries carried in a battered businessman. He was in a grey fine suit, with sleek blonde hair, and blue eyes. He would have been softer on the eyes if it wasn't for the many bruises and cuts that marred his face, his left eye was swollen shut from a beating and his nose seemed to be crooked, perhaps broken. His clothes although still on his body had been ripped at the knees, the elbows, and across the button up shirt, covered in small splotches of dirt and grime. Ren would have felt pity for him had she not seen worse in her life.

The crowd started to chant "Death", and throw trash at the man, they all felt a hatred for someone who hadn't even done much to any of them aside from his clients who were not present at the moment. They wanted to feel in power, like they were doing something right and Ren resented this. The mercenaries pushed him down on his knees to a familiar position before the "judge" that he had taken earlier. Bane rose his hands up and the courtroom was in silence again. Bane waited several moments, he adjusted the vest beneath his coat and looked at the faces of the crowd with an unwavering agitation. Ren could feel that and she could sense it in him.

"You want this man punished for his crimes..." Bane started, his fist clenching before him as his other hand gestured to the man on the floor. "Tortured?" Bane hissed out the word and those few who had been pressing for this in the crowd, were no longer. "Your humanity betrays you, that you would ask us to do this task for you and not take it upon yourselves. Who will it be?" He stopped to glance over at Barsad, who had pulled his handgun from its holster and properly gave it to Bane, who had passed it along to his other hand after pulling back the slid. His finger went down the slim of it and the gun itself appeared to be far smaller than his actual hand. He swung it around carelessly, but his finger still not meeting the trigger. He rose the gun and spun around the room to face the entire crowd that had circled the scene. "Who is the lucky one to kill this man and be done with it? To kill him and feel no regrets." Not one person stepped forward for the longest moment, then one hand was risen amongst the crowd and that man stepped forward. He was old and beaten down by the past few weeks, everyone was. He shakily stepped forward, Ren knew he was the type who had never killed a man before, but she would see how far he went. At this point, he represented all of Gotham and he did not know what made him take the gun from Bane and put it to the accused man's head. Nothing happened for the longest time and Bane merely stepped back to watch, but Ren could not be patient enough. The Human mind was not meant to kill, those that have practiced it many times could easily do it, those that felt no remorse for their victim or anguish. Humans were never meant to kill the other unless they had that will or had found it, this man obviously did not and Ren could wait no longer.

She stepped forward in Bane's place and snatched the gun from the man, he looked directly into her eyes and she into his as all she did was squeeze the trigger without a flinch and the once alive body had dropped dead with a thud. She took a deep breath and saw the pale faces of Gotham's people as they stared with unease.

"Learn your lesson Gotham. If you can't take care of the evil in this city yourselves then leave it to the people who can." She then turned and after giving the gun back to Barsad, leaving the courtroom. No one had stopped her, they were all horrified by the single dead body lying upon the once pristine floor, blood leaking from the battered head as it seeped into the tiles. Her steps echoed until she was no longer seen. Not a word was exchanged.

* * *

 _Balance, that is all she needed. Her hands wavered slightly as they held her weight. She was upside down with her legs shut together doing a hand stand with one hand, this was how she had to meditate now, it used to just be sitting on the floor in an Indian style, but now she did this. She had found that her meditations were much harder with him around and developed a method that ended this. She could see him better when standing up right and in this case she had less to focus on other than her balance and her mind._

 _He was in the other room, looking through blue prints and musing over Gotham's reckoning. When the elevator directly across from Ren's place in the living room opened and a familiar face walked in. Ren was between ignoring or greeting her, but she chose the latter option because Talia was a good friend, almost a sister. Ren flipped from her hand stand and smiled as Talia and her shortened the distance between themselves for a hug._

 _"It's so good to see you again my friend. It feels like forever." Talia said, rubbing Ren's shoulders, before she wrapped an arm around her and the two woman began to walk side by side to where Bane was in the room down the hall. "I am most pleased with yours and Bane's accomplishments. We are so close to fulfilling father's dreams."_

 _"Yes." Was Ren's only reply, her guilt consuming her in a manner where she felt a stone in her chest. Somehow Talia knew something was wrong by the hard expression on Ren's face. She stopped Ren in the hallway and cupped her cheeks._

 _"What is bothering you?" Ren could not look into Talia's eyes, they were averted to the floor, the door to the room Bane had been in swung open._

 _"Talia, I was not expecting your arrival so early. We have much to discuss." Talia nodded distantly, before looking back into the eyes of Ren._

 _"I will be alright." Ren assured and they gave one last hug, before Talia disappeared into the room and Bane had shut the door. Ren felt alone now, she had always been alone, but in these moments they were the worst. She walked across the floor to her room. It was small, consisting of only a twin sized bed with a mattress and a balcony opening up to a view of the city. But underneath the bed was where Ren had decided to keep her most sacred items, two katanas made of the strongest steel and given to her by Ra's al ghul himself._

 _She fell onto her knees beside the bed and slid the thin, long black leather box from its place unlatching the hooks and swinging it open. She glided her fingers over the intricate patterns and sways of the metal, they were her most prized possessions. Ren was unsure how she had managed to keep them hidden for so long, they once belonged to Ra's and instead of giving them to his daughter he gave them to her._

 _She held the handles of the blades and lifted them from their place in the box. She bit her bottom lips as she watched the sun that gleamed into the room shimmer off the blades' clean surface. She picked up the double sheath and encased the blades in their holsters. She fastened them around her torso, so they rested on her back, grabbed her jacket and left the room. Not suspecting that Talia would be waiting in the living room for her._

 _Both woman froze and stared at each other silently, her eyes flickering from the blades on her back to her face again. It was in that split second that both woman felt intimidated by one another, that Talia had not received the blades once belonging to her father, that Ren was trusted more. It had always been a competition despite their relationship. It was funny how friendship could thin so fast in a matter of time._

 _"Where are you going?"_

 _"I feel the need to go and scavenge the city for those who fail to follow our authority."_

 _"And you will kill them?" Ren dropped her head, she couldn't stare at her friend any longer without becoming angry._

 _"No."_

 _"Then why do you have those swords and where did you get them?" Ren, although feeling in a mood to lie to her friend for the sake of their relationship, she told the truth. She knew it ha already dulled down, Talia would never think of her the same ever again. It had always been a competition between the two when they were being trained. Raz had spent more time with Talia, but Ren knew she was favored by her skills and her mindset._

 _"Your father gave them to me and I have them because they make me feel secure." Talia nodded, but said no more. She made a scowl of sorts as though in jealousy and exited through the elevator shortly after. Ren felt curious as to why Bane had let her go so early and ventured towards the room he was in... Unless it may be that she had left him on her own terms. It was once a dining room, papers cluttered the oak table and documents of all sorts that she knew she wouldn't understand without explanation. He was staring out the window at the view of Gotham and she could not see his face, but she could see how much sorrow his eyes carried._

 _"Bane." She called, he did not look away from the startling view, arms crossed in a manner where his muscles bulged further. Silence... It was long and gruesome almost, he didn't answer her and she thought to leaving him be and going on patrol as she had planned. She turned about to leave, but he stopped her with her name._

 _"Ren." Her false name, she wished she knew her true name then. "Are you afraid of death?"_

 _"No..." She replied back in sincerity, Bane nodded his head thoughtfully, but did not look over at her._

 _"Why not?" He rasped out in an almost choked breath._

 _"Because I know that when I die... I will be released of my burdens. I would have lived my time on earth and hopefully by then, I will have lived it well."_

 _"But what if you were to die right now?"_

 _"Then I would tell you my darkest and deepest secrets, only you." She hadn't realized she had said that out loud until Bane's hand was on her shoulder and she found herself staring up at him into those beautiful eyes._

 _"I ask that you keep them to yourself before you die..." Her eyes shut closed and she nodded her head, he was gone then. Leaving the room, before she could stop him and scream at him. "A secret is far better to keep in one's body than one's soul." He muttered before he was gone. She might have been too young to understand what he meant, he was not much older than her... But he was wiser and stronger, he had more reputation although they might have shared the same status through another's eyes. She didn't know what he meant, but she made it her goal to find out._


	3. ASH

**This chapter contains a scene from the script/movie of the Dark Knight Rises and therefore anything that you remember in the movie is not mine, everything else is added to coordinate with my character.**

 **Another thing that is to be said, in response to the review that had been quite crude about how my character isn't actually "Kickass", I wrote this chapter. I am not promoting whatever was reviewed, I try not to pay attention to people who are rude when they comment on another's work. If you don't like it, don't read it. Constructive Criticism I accept, but anything crude or heinous, I do not. In response to the writer of the comment I say this:**

 ** _Obviously you don't understand Ren's personality enough since you have made the assumption that I am attempting to make her "Badass", to not only you, but all my readers I wish to explain this misunderstanding. Ren isn't meant to be a "badass" nor is she meant to be a whiny bitch. I like to put a lot of symbolic meaning into my work and for those interested, there is a reason the story is called, "A Shadow's Heart". I named the story this because Ren is a shadow, shadows have a way of telling someone whether it is night or day, light or dark in other words. Ren is the light and dark throughout this entire fanfiction, her purpose isn't meant to be_** ** _"badass"_** ** _, her purpose is meant to symbolize humanity. She has two sides to herself and unlike Bane has a way of connecting with others, but also disconnecting herself from them. She has emotion; she cries, she becomes happy, she becomes angry, excited, but she seldom shows it. She knows how to kill and fight because that was what she was taught to do, that doesn't make her a_** ** _"badass", she doesn't want to be one._** ** _She is meant to be the balance of this story, not the action packed heroine. I apologize if that wasn't made clear and hopefully this chapter will bring in some insight._**

 **Chapter 3: Ash**

Ren stood outside the court house, nobody dare would distract her from her deep thought. She was angry, sad, and remorseful all at once and everybody knew not to disrupt her when she was this way. She had a lot of blood on her hands, she killed many people in the past, in the present and possibly more in the future. However, she wasn't one to kill without reason.

She killed murderers and rapists and thieves, she never saw the people she killed as individuals who had families and morals because they all had committed crimes in their own way. To her they all deserved to die, like her father who killed her sisters and her mother and was about to kill her. Those were memories she would never lose, they haunted her when she actually could sleep and kept her from relaxing at times when she was awake. She had seen blood and death before she turned ten, she had seen pain and punishment before she turned fifteen, and she had fallen in love with Bane when she was twenty five. She had felt every emotion known to the human race and had dealt with every sin, she had lived through physical punishment and emotional distress... She still lived through these things and received no comfort from any God, not the god, or the gods... She had no religion, no faith, or hope. It was just her. Ren.

She had dreamt of a life where she had a child and a loving husband, but she would never have a normal life. The scars never went away and neither did the memories, she would never forget them and she could never bring herself to do so.

"The people fear you as they would fear me." She heard him behind her, her eyes lifted up to look about at the people sitting around in front of the courthouse. No one was innocent, they were all like her father.

"Ren?" She didn't reply, she was lost to that monster inside her that was begging to come out and kill all of them, they all deserved to die. "Ren." His voice was much more insistent, she ripped her stone gaze from the innocents and over her shoulder to look at him.

"They got what they wanted, didn't they?" Tears threatened to spill, but she wiped them away and sniffled blaming it on the cold. He placed a hand on her shoulder and stepped forward to stand beside her.

"I killed him because they wanted it and they couldn't do it." She continued, that was her job, always her job to kill for others who couldn't complete the task themselves.

"Precisely." He raised his hand from her shoulder to grab her chin and make her face him in a stricter sense. His eyes dove into her soul as if it was out in front of her like an open book. "They got what they wanted... But did you get what you wanted?" She shook her head, he saw the tears, she thought of it as a weakness to cry, but even he had felt such dread before and he had she's such tears.

"I want them all dead. They don't deserve to live." She couldn't handle the cruel world anymore and in their raze of the city she hoped she would die with them as she knew she didn't deserve to live any longer.

"In time, my companion, in time. Patience is an important thing to have while we set forth this great task."

"He would have wanted me to be patient. He must hate me now because I can't do that Bane, I can't be patient." Ra's, was like a father to her. She could only wonder that he might be utterly disappointed now.

"No... He doesn't, he respects us all for being here in his memory. We must see to it that his work is finished."

"And then after?"

"We die. It's simple, Ren. We succeed and we die." They didn't continue after that, he released her chin and they turned to look back down at the stairs leading up to the courthouse.

"Where is Talia?"

"Safe. She has the detonator now." Talia hadn't done much other than keep up a facade and find generous donations for the project that went into the nuclear reactor. She hadn't stopped by since last week and she knew it ha a great affect on how Bane had been behaving lately.

"I would like to see her, it's been a week." They had felt that unspoken hatred for one another, Talia and her, but she continued to trust that Talia was her sister by heart and not blood and it would remain that way. He made a noise in response, his noises were distinct and she had been in his company long enough to know which one was which. She knew that noise meant distance and she knew it was because he missed Talia to. His greatest downfall would always be that he loved her, but she never loved him. Just how Ren loved him, but he would never notice, he would never see it and **it** was her greatest downfall.

"I do not think it would be safe." He was using it as an excuse, she knew something had happened between them, an understanding of sorts. It was the day that Bane had asked her about death, she had succumbed to the idea that she would spend her final days in Gotham, but Bane had something else on his mind when he had asked her.

"What does she have to hide from?"

"The rebels, those that retaliate against our cause. We cannot risk them finding out." She didn't say anything after that knowing any further refutation would lead to anger on his part. She looked away and simply stared down at the concrete pavement of the steps. "Ren."

"Yes." She immediately replied, he sighed, a heavy sigh growing up from his chest and out to a loud exhale.

"I want you to go around the city and track down these rebels." It was a command she knew to obey, it was that type of command in which she would do anything to fulfill and every time dream of him kissing her as a gift to her success. "When you have found anything valuable, I want you to come to me. Understood?"

"Yes, understood." She didn't know why he suddenly had a task for her, but she wasn't going to go against it. When he gave an order it was official and she had learned that from experience. She meant to continue down the stairs to their vehicle that would drive them about, but he had stopped her.

"I haven't dismissed you." She stood up taller and carefully went back to her stance at his side, she didn't look at him confused as to what else he might want.

"The other day when I asked you about death, you answered truthfully, correct?"

"Correct." She croaked out, he was so random at times, she never would understand him entirely.

"And you answered that you would tell me everything before you might die?"

"Yes... And that remains true." She didn't think he would have asked this out of random, he had been planning to ask her, but hadn't found a correct time.

"I told you not to tell me anything, but now I am curious that if I told you to tell me everything now." He turned to her, she was confused, she had never felt so intimate with conversation as this. They only talked about business or training, but never things like this. "Would you be afraid?" Ren gulped and shook her head.

"No, but the fear will come as someone had told me once before, it always does and when it does...

...

...

...

I will be ready for it."

* * *

 _Three individuals hooded under the sunlight of the blue sky, treading down a cratered dirt road a passengers of a jeep driven by European Militia. She was one of them, her face hiding beneath the black sack that had been forcefully placed over her head. Their destination was just ahead, an airstrip overlooking a grey city rocked by artillery fire. A CIA Operative with several men of Special Forces surrounded him and stood in front of a small commuter plane. The man watched the Land Cruiser pull up, the Mercenaries jump out of the vehicle. The Driver exits the vehicle shoving a familiar doctor in front of the man._

 _"Dr. Pavel, I'm CIA." He introduced himself, he refrained from saying his name for security reasons. Dr. Pavel nodded nervously. The man hands the Driver a briefcase, containing a large sum of money._

 _"He wasn't alone." The driver states plainly, the man looks confused at the three hooded characters. He immediately shot his gaze back to Dr. Pavel, hands on his hips._

 _"You don't get to bring friends."_

 _"They are not my friends." Dr. Pavel replies shakily, his hands still bound, he looks back at the three. Ren cocks her head to one side. She never understood what made him so afraid and then that made her think of Bane. The man on his knees just beside her in the same position. She had seen Bane before, but aside from the time he had tested her strength in the league of shadows, she had made no contact with the man before. Talia wanted her to come along and she did, to Bane she was most likely just another Mercenary, unnecessary to the cause. She wanted to prove him otherwise, she had watched him from afar and had uncovered the fact that she had a growing crush on the man. She needed to be strong when he was around and gain his respect._

 _"Don't worry, no charge for them." The driver said, starting to walk his way back to the jeep._

 _"Why would I want them?" The man calls back, the driver stops at the car door and looks up at the man._

 _"They were trying to grab your prize." He smiled, opening the jeep door. "They work for the mercenary. The masked man." He finished before disappearing into the jeep._

 _"Bane?" The man asked distantly with hidden excitement to Pavel and the jittery man nodded hesitantly. The man turned to his Special Forces Men felt proud of himself, he gestured to the three and Dr. Pavel. "Let's go. Get 'em on board - I'll call it in." He said as he climbed up the steps onto the commuter plane. It wasn't long before Ren and the two others, Bane and Abal, were brought onto the plane. Bane had previously instructed that when his men were caught, which he knew would be of random that they shouldn't say a word and they shouldn't struggle. The commuter plane struggled over snow-capped mountains and grassy plains. When it had risen to a certain point of the air space, it hovered in place for what felt like forever before some communication was set about._

 _Abal the man to her left on his knees snapped his fingers three times to signal that they were close. The plane that Bane had bought out was meant to come and fly over this plane, there was a full plan, but Ren was unsure how it would work out. She just so happened to be one of the mercenaries that had been pulled from the group out of random to participate in this mission._

 _The man that Ren had now out of amusement given the name, Bob, had grabbed Abal by the head and slammed him down onto the floor of the aircraft._

 _"What are you doing in the middle of my operation?" He asked forcefully, Ren heard the distinct sound of a gun being cocked. She was more afraid that Bane may get hurt, she wasn't sure if she could handle that. Abal said nothing. "The flight plan I just filed with the Agency lists me, my men, and Dr. Pavel here. But only one of you." He stepped back towards the cargo door and opened it. Two of the Special Forces soldiers grab Abal and put his head out of the plane. "FIRST ONE TO TALK GETS TO STAY ON MY AIRCRAFT!" He yells over the loud howling of the wind. "SO...WHO PAID YOU TO GRAB DR. PAVEL?!" Abal remained silent, Bob fired out the open door and the Special Forces yank Abal back in, he was hit upside the head to be force quiet. "HE DIDN'T FLY SO GOOD! WHO WANTS TO TRY NEXT?!" The Soldiers grabbed Ren and she was yet again in the same position as Abal before her. Her fists clenched and she remained silent as Bob continued his rant. "TELL ME ABOUT BANE! WHY DOES HE WEAR THE MASK?!" Ren said nothing and wondered if they had any knowledge of her being a woman. Bob pressed the gun to the Ren's hood much more forcefully, she bit her bottom lip. "LOT OF LOYALTY FOR A HIRED GUN!"_

 _"Or maybe they are wondering why someone would shoot a man before throwing him out of an airplane." Bane says, Ren was yanked back in and thrown onto the floor. He shut the cargo door and looked over at the third man... Bane, he hadn't known this entire time. Did he know Ren was under that hood? She slowly lowered her hands down her back and rose her knees towards her chest, waiting for the perfect moment to jump the cuffs and attack. Bob grabs the hood on Bane with a tight grip._

 _"Wiseguy, huh? At least you can talk. Who are you?"_

 _"We are nothing. We are the dirt beneath your feet. And no one cared who I was until I put on the mask..." Bob pulled the hood off his head, revealing a dark mask with a breathing apparatus. The eyes of Bane were cold, Ren wish she could have seen them. "Who we are does not matter. What matters is our plan." Bob poked once at the mask with fascination_

 _"If I pull this off, will you die?"_

 _"It would be extremely painful." He nodded, sense of pride overwhelming him._

 _"You're a big guy-"_

 _"For you." Bane added, Ren pulled the handcuffs under her feet and slowly put her hands to her chest. They were too focused on Bane to notice her._

 _"Was being caught part of your plan?"_

 _"Of course. Dr. Pavel refused our offer in favor of yours. We had to know what he told you about us."_

 _"Nothing! I said nothing!" Dr. Pavel shrieked out, he stared wide eyes at pain with utter fear._

 _"Why not just ask him?"_

 _"He would not have told us."_

 _"You have methods." Bob stated plainly, glancing over at Pavel before looking to Bane again._

 _"Him, I need healthy. You present no such problem." Just then a loud hum erupted around the tiny plane, an even larger one dwarfing it in size hovered above it. Bob was too caught up in his success, one of the soldiers looked out the window at the plane._

 _"Sir?" Bob laughed and shook his head. "Congratulations, you got yourselves caught. What's the next step of your master plan?" Bane's eyebrows furrowed, Ren turned her body to lay flat back and reached up, slowly lifting the hood from her head._

 _"Crashing this plane..." Bane replied, there was a sudden turbulence on the plane. Ren hauled her body up and swiped her feet under her to catch herself. The hood falling beside her, she took a moment to calm herself. Bane stood up slowly, standing tall over the mane Ren had named Bob. "With no survivors." He finished, he grabbed Bob by the neck and cracked it, throwing him into another soldier._

 _Ren grabbed a soldier's handgun from behind while he was occupied and shot him in the head along with the other. Two men hooked up to cables fell to hang on either side of the plane, they aimed their guns and shot through the windows, the other two attached grapples to the wings of the plane. Hoists started to pull the tail of the commuter plane, it was lifted upside down in an unnatural manner. Ren fell and slid down towards the nose, Bane catching her and throwing her into the seat beside him._

 _"You shouldn't be here." He grumbled at her, the end of the plane that was on the upside exploded to reveal several mercenaries who began to shoot at the remaining special forces soldiers. Dr. Pavel who had been strapped in, pushed against the seat in front of him - the plane vibrated, it started to tear itself apart. The men climbed the tail of the smaller plane as it dangled helplessly above the mountains. Its wings shear off. Bane broke his handcuffs as if they were plastic, then dropped down the cabin, somersaulting gracefully and using his arms to stop himself halfway down in the seats by Dr. Pavel. Ren turned her body around and watched from afar with astonishment, why was he angry with her? She had only been doing her Job. A body bag was lowered into the cabin. Bane laid it on the seat backs next to Dr. Pavel and unzipped it to reveal a body the same age and build as Dr. Pavel. Bane ripped Dr. Pavel's sleeve, he carefully pulled out a length of surgical tubing, he pushed a needle into Dr. Pavel's arm and ran the tube to the body's arm. Dr. Pavel watched, horrified, as Bane started compressions on the body's chest, drawing Dr. Pavel's blood across the tube and into the body. Ren's eyes widened and she suddenly knew exactly what he was doing, she flipped over in the seat and looked to her right to find Abal sitting on the seat adjacent from her, staring up into the open end of the plane. They were laying lateral due to the plane's position, Bane came climbing back up taking the seat beside her. A single hook came down that was to take them up from the already destroyed plane. Abal reached up for it as another mercenary who had came in from the window strapped Dr. Pavel to him down below. He yanked on the cable to secure it, Bane placed his hand on Abal's shoulder, Abal looked at him with his sparkling eyes._

 _"One of us needs to stay behind." Bane explained, Abal continued to look at him with admiration and he nodded._

 _"Have we started the fire?"_

 _"The fire will rise." Abal laid back in the seat at this exclamation and closed his eyes. Bane grabbed Ren from her seat with a fierce hip and wrapped that cable around both of them. His body was pressed hard against hers as his arms embraced her as a secondary security to the cable. He looked down into her eyes, he was irritated with her, but she could not understand why. Everything seemed to be still for a moment and her heart thundered with a longing that had just been newly rekindled upon his seeing his gaze directly on her._

 _"Are you afraid?" He asked her softly, she took a deep breath before shaking her head. "Good... The Fear shall come later." It was so sudden that Ren felt herself clutch herself tighter to Bane. The smaller plane suddenly dropped and the only ones left hanging had secured themselves to the cable, Dr. Pavel included. Breathlessly she opened her eyes, she felt a blush paint onto her cheeks and she looked up at Bane, who was staring at her with a stern gaze._

 _"Why didn't you just let me die? I know me being on that plane had nearly ruined your plan."_

 _"You hadn't ruined it and if I had let you die, Talia would never forgive me... She loves you as if you were her sister." Ren didn't reply. Of course. He wouldn't saved her for any other reason than Talia. The only reason he did any of this was for Talia. That was when the jealousy festered within her. That was when she began to hate herself more for loving a man who had given his heart to another woman, a friend, a sibling at heart. Ren looked away at the grasslands below and she sighed... That was all she did._


	4. LIFE

**This is when things start to heat up, not particularly in this chapter, but this chapter signifies the rise in the story. This chapter is a little short, but I will make up for that in later chapters. I hope you guys enjoy. :) This chapter sort of delves more into Ren's past.**

 **Chapter 4: Life**

Ren had left the courthouse and went back to the apartment Bane and her shared. She dressed in fitting clothing for her investigation and immediately set out to fulfill Bane's request. She went alone, that is how she did things. On some occasions you would find her accompanied by a couple men, but she worked better in solitude. She had done some research before leaving and it particularly surrounded the hot topic of the city, the commissioner himself.

She had no doubts that he may be the one affiliated with the rebel attacks and she wanted nothing more than to end it. Bane felt respect for the commissioner however, even after sentencing him to live his short life these next few months under constant ridicule after his secrets were told to the entire city. She found a man that worked under him as Captain, Foley was his last name. She memorized his address and made it her destination.

It was getting closer to the end of the summer when Gotham would start to cool down. Ren had found herself in a long sleeved black compression shirt with cargo pants that tucked into her shiny brown boots. The sleeves ended at her wrists and her prized swords hung from her back. She wore sunglasses over her eyes because the sun had grown more ravenous towards the middle of the day and the skyscrapers weren't much help to this.

She stopped on the sidewalk, where the steps led up to Foley's home. She saw a pink tricycle out in the front and if she were anyone else she might have felt pity on the man's soul, but she was not someone else. She stepped up the steps, her boots clanking against the metal loudly, it would have been hard for anyone in the apartment not to hear. She stopped in front of the door and before she could raise a fist and knock upon the wood, it was swung open.

A woman in her late thirties stood at the door, shoulder length straight brown hair, hazel eyes, and pale skin. She wore the clothing of a daily house wife and mother, behind her Ren could see a young boy staying close to his mother's side, barely talk enough to reach her him. He had the same features as his mother, but his skull held orbs the size of moons tainted by the color of the sky. The woman carried an expression of grieve, fear, and anxiety all in one face. Ren had seen this look before, but that didn't mean she felt comfortable with it, in fact she felt indifferent about the entire thing. She held half her body behind the door and stared blankly into the lens of Ren's glasses. Ren sighed with disinterest, raising a hand up to flick the sunglasses up to her scalp line.

"Do you know who I am?" Of course, this woman did and Ren knew she was in the right place. Everyone in the city knew who she was, like they all knew Bane's name they knew Ren's face.

"Are you... Are you here to kill him?" She knew thugs that Ren wanted to know, but this didn't mean Ren had accomplished her task.

"No. I am here to talk to him."

"He isn't home." Ren stepped her foot out to wedge the door when the woman tried to close it.

"Then I will talk to you." The woman was hesitant at first, but obviously wanted no trouble. She stepped back, grabbing her son with her and leaving a way for Ren to get in. Ren squeezed into the house, she was greeted with the sight of a staircase leading up to a second floor. The hallway from the door split in two, a dining room one way, a living room the other. The door was shut behind her and Ren glanced over her shoulder at the boy who was rushed away by his mother and whispered an incoherent order into his ear. He ran off to go play with the little girl in the living room, Ren saw the toys scattered across the floor, the clean furniture, and flat-screen TV. It made her hunk of how she didn't have a home at all when she was little... But that will be thoughts saved for another time.

The woman looked at Ren as she admired the innocence that shun through in her two children and seeing their terrorist first hand, she felt less afraid. Other than the intimidating blades that is.

"Why are you doing this?" She croaked out, Ren looked over at the woman blankly, her lips forming a thin line.

"Doing what?"

"Blowing up Gotham, destroying everything."

"It is already destroyed and I don't believe that's what I am here to talk about Mrs. Foley." Ren's voice was monotone, she knew no compassion for these people, she would never have kids and she lacked a proper family. So why should she care about them? "Your husband, do you know where he might be?"

"Um..." She stifled back tears and shook her head. "I don't know. He's working I think, the c-cops are trying to be as helpful to the community as they can be right now."

"It's no use and..." Ren bit her bottom lip, she could read through lies. "You are lying to me." The woman froze, she glared up at Ren, but not out of anger, out of fear. "I want to make something clear. I am not here to kill you or your children, but if I find out that your husband is working with the rebels and you have lied to me. I will kill him." It was a promise, she swore it straight to the woman's face. The woman trembled, gulping audibly.

"He might be. He doesn't tell me anything anymore." She whispered, a tear streaming down her face as she looked at her children with worry.

"I wouldn't know what that is." Ren looked back to the children playing on the floor. She never knew what a mother's love was, much less a father's love and she had lost any care she had for anyone before she was inaugurated into the league of shadows. "I can't have children, I don't have anyone to care for or anyone to care for me." Ren drifted off into the space of the past a space she despised more than ever, but it wouldn't go away, it made her who she was.

"Why not? Just because you don't have anyone doesn't mean you can't find someone." Ren grew angered by the woman's words, she looked back to the mother. She wasn't angry because the mother was trying to get to her emotions. She was angry because the woman was right, the issue was, did Ren want to find someone? She loved Bane, worshiped him, but she knew it would never be. She wasn't the family type, if she ever had a family the most likely scenario would be that they all end up like her mother and siblings. She stepped forward, her jaw tightening, teeth barring.

"I want to show you something." She grabbed the bottom of the shirt she was wearing and lifted it up till it was seen. The woman looked away unable to look any longer, a wide deep scar drifted across from her belly button to up below her breasts. "When I was young my father mauled my entire family. I was next, he stabbed me in my womb all the way up my chest he went." Her finger trailed up the scar distantly and then dropped away. "I don't know how I survived, I was only nine at the time." Ren dropped her shirt and sighed. "But I did. You should be truly grateful for the things you have Mrs. Foley." Ren slid her sunglasses down to cover the pain in her eyes. "They can be taken from you so easily." It was a threat, if Ren found out that she was hiding something she wouldn't hesitate to kill her entire family out of pure discontent. That is how the world went, all Ren could say was that she warned her. Ren left the apartment leaving the mother to sob softly into her sweatshirt and be haunted by what the world really was like and what was said, but Ren remained unfazed.

She always remained unfazed, calm, and calculating. Much like her master, the only man who ever actually had two feet in the world at all times. When she thought of Ra's, she saw Bane... Not Talia. She placed a hand to her flat stomach and whimpered, but it was gone within seconds. Her expression was taut again, she wasn't going to cry over things she knew she didn't need. She pulled her hand away and shook her head, starting her way down the road. She would return tomorrow for Foley, much more earlier in the morning. She crossed her arms and let out a heavy breath, the crispy air turning it into a haze that rose up into the sky and disappeared.


	5. HEAT

**Like I said, things are starting to "heat" up. This doesn't mean that anything is going to happen, just be prepared to fangirl.**

 **Chapter 5: Heat**

Ren exited the elevator, she stood in the living room and looked around, Bane was no where to be seen. She assumed he was out working with Barsad or in his room sleeping. She never interrupted Bane when he was sleeping, he rarely ever slept even at night his time was spent on other things. His room was mostly empty like hers, but his to a much more greater extent, not one sheet cluttered the bed, only two fluff pillows and his clothes were in a black duffle bag in the corner of the room.

Ren let out a sigh of relief, on the walk back to the building she found that she had been thinking of Bane a lot more than normal. It had become a normal thing for her and she wasn't sure if she could confront him without breaking her facade this time around. She placed her swords back in their case, pushing it under the bed. She rolled up the sleeves of her shirt, disposed of her boots and made way back into the living room.

She moved the coffee table and then immediately went into a handstand. She wasn't hungry, or bored, or tired and it was just past one in the afternoon. He wasn't home and that made this the best time to meditate. She closed her eyes, her long hair hung upside down and her forearms tightened to bare the weight of her body. It was quiet, all she could hear was the ticking of a clock that she did not know the whereabouts of. She tried to clear her mind, a practice that had grown to be arduous lately. Taking in a deep breath, she allowed the time to pass by and she hadn't known how long she had been there until footsteps took her from her deepest thoughts.

"You know, there use to be a time where you meditated right side up, but now I am beginning to think it was never that way." Her eyes flashed open and in front of the elevator across from her stood Bane in all his glory, with nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist, droplets of water tumbling down his bulky bare chest and crossed arms. Her eyes widened, she tensed immediately and fell backwards, her back hitting the ground with a thud. She made a grunt, sitting herself up and choosing not to turn around and face him.

"Ren? Are you going to answer me?"

"Yes." She blurted out hurriedly, her chest rising and falling with her unstable breath.

"I focus better when I have to keep balance." She continued, her voice wavering as her mind went back to the fact he was naked, a towel being the only thing keeping him from being revealed. She had never seen a naked man before, but knew of sex and love making, how it all worked. She wanted to see what was under that towel more than she herself could comprehend and she hated herself more than anything for it.

"Yes, but didn't you focus well enough when you were sitting the proper way?"

"Not entirely... S-Sir." She cursed herself for stumbling over her words, body shaking with adrenaline. She never called him 'Sir' and kne wit would be a mistake on her part.

"Something is not right. You are here early, I expect you have information for me."

"I do." She watched as bane crossed the room from his place near the elevator and sat down on one of the couches. Did he forget he was half naked?! He never just pranced around like this for as long as he was now...

"I'm listening." He leaned his elbows on his knees and stared at her from his place on the couch. The towel just barely long enough to wrap his lower body. She dared not look him in the eyes, in fear that he might know of her obscene thoughts.

"I found leads on a Captain who works- Or had worked under commissioner Gordon."

"And?"

"I found his home, he has a wife and two kids. I will be returning much earlier in the morning to catch him before he leaves, possibly to follow him." Bane nodded his head, his eyes trailing around the room.

"Smart." He plainly said, she bit her bottom lip and shut her eyes tightly, her face scrunching under the intensity of her nerves. "Do you want to fight me, Ren?" She stopped and looked over her shoulder at him with a questioning gaze, then she was yet again reminded of his nakedness. Despite the moment she held her head high and kept his direct glare.

"Why would I want to fight you?"

"Why not? We haven't fought someone in weeks." His scratchy voice held plenty of reasoning and for a moment Ren had immediately considered it, but then she thought of all the bad endings to a single decision.

"Months and you have fought plenty of people in these few days."

"But what about you? Don't you want to train in some way other than punching that dull bag hanging from the ceiling of the next room? Don't you want a challenge?" He made a point, she was growing restless. At the dojo, it use to be that one would fight their opponent at least ten times in one day now she had resorted to this, to sitting around and only doing things if they were required. How she remained as physically fit as she had, she didn't know. She barely consumed as much as she should have lately and her calorie intake hadn't been at its best from the beginning . When they found refuge in the sewers, she went on jogs through the tunnels in the morning, but now she only went once a week and even then that was rare. She needed some more exercise, she needed to fight... But she had fought Bane only once before and she had lost, that didn't mean he had lost respect for her. It was his test to her, he tested her because he wanted to see what Ra's had seen and he saw it. Otherwise she wouldn't be alive at the moment. She never thought she would fight him again, they were allies, possibly still acquaintances if you asked Bane.

"Alright, but... It's just sparring."

"Of course." He stood and left the room, she wondered what brought on this odd attitude of Bane's, but quickly pushed that thought aside. He wasn't acting strange, only being reasonable, she told herself, but it was all a lie.

More of the furniture had been moved to allow enough room for Bane and her to fight, to Ren's dismay Bane had only put on a pair of pants and she wasn't sure if he was even wearing anything underneath. She rolled up her sleeves even more and even rolled up the legging to her cargo pants till they were above her knees. She turned to stand across from him, his skin still littered with small droplets of water. Or was that sweat? She wasn't sure.

"So is this going to be a spar for points or..." She choked out, trying her best to hide how weak he made her feel.

"We are just sparring Ren, there is no need to be nervous."

"I am not nervous." His eyes squinted at her.

"Don't lie to me." He growled out with a hazy lisp in his words, he cocked his head to the side and glared at her.

"I haven't fought you in years."

"Are you afraid of me?"

"No..."

"Good." He remarked, his eyes cresting with a new found amusement. "Now make your move."

"You first." He stepped forward and she stepped back, he chuckled, his eyes lighting up even more.

"How can I make a move if you keep moving away?" She took in a deep breath and closed her eyes. As soon as they flashed open, she ran forward, hopping up high enough to wrap her legs around his neck in an attempt to bring him to the ground, but he was too strong. He grabbed her thighs, she remained hanging from his shoulders. His grip on her thighs tightened and she let out a groan, but it wasn't out of pain. She needed to get away from him, right now, she hoped he wouldn't realize the difference between a pained moan and a pleasured moan.

She pulled herself up and hit a fist against his head, he released her and she pushed herself from him falling to the ground. She crawled back, holding a hand up to him.

"You shouldn't have done that." She bluntly shot out, his eyebrows furrowed.

"What do you expect after wrapping your legs around my head?" The question was rhetorical, but if he wasn't wearing that mask she would definitely have an answer to it, in her mind of course, she would never tell him what he does to her.

"I have to go." She rambled out, sitting up and starting her way towards her room at a fast pace.

"So soon?" He asked, a bit disappointed and just as she entered her room, the elevator opened and Talia came strolling in.


	6. BLOOD

**Chapter 6: Blood**

Ren was in a pair of black silk pajama pants that flowed with every graceful step she took. She was in a tank top that fit tightly to her torso, her hair was in a messy bun and her feet were bare against the wood flooring. She was walking across the hall towards the elevator, Bane came into view he was stomping more so than walking. He was still wearing cargo pants from earlier and a tan t-shirt.

The living room was dark, it was the middle of the night and apparently something rancid had gone about. There were traitors amongst the mercenaries, traitors amongst Bane's own men, traitors amongst the rich hostages they had trapped at the bottom lobby of the courthouse. He stood tall and straight clearly waiting for her, she pressed the button of the elevator and completely ignored him. He however, was always in control of his surroundings and knew she was trying to ignore him. That was what she liked about Bane, he always took advantage of the things that were given to him.

They entered the elevator and Bane politely pressed the button for the first floor. Memories of the events that occurred earlier in the day flashed before her eyes when she looked directly over at him. She shot her gaze down to the ground and her cheeks were highlighted by a faint red.

"Have you slept well so far?" Bane asked, his hands hanging from the neck line of his shirt.

"No." She bluntly replied, his eyes went fierce, but he made no sound and turned to look over at her.

"Is that no to yourself or no to my question?" She hesitated with her answer, glancing around the constricted space they were in, then looking straight ahead and taking a deep breath. If she lied to him he would know, so instead she told him the truth.

"Both." Bane blinked his eyes slowly as though he was drunk then he turned his gaze away.

"What did Barsad tell you?"

"He caught CIA agents using the supply trucks to get onto the island."

"He told me that the resistance was getting out of hand."

"Same/difference, I have reason to believe that the resistance has been trying to get men on the inside this entire time."

"The reasonable disposition however, is that somehow they have corrupted my men."

"They have corrupted your men because you allowed volunteers, I warned you against accepting outsiders into our ranks." She began fidgeting with her thumbs, something she did to both calm her nerves and keep her thought process from shutting down. Her thumbs would over lap one another continuously until they stopped and she slightly angled her head to the side with a deep thought. "You knew."

"I did." He answered back without hesitation, the elevator doors opened and they both walked out as if in their usual routine. Barsad and a group of others waited for them near the entrance of the building. Ren was still barefoot and had now regretted having not put on shoes of some sort. That however, wasn't what was important at the moment, the fact that he had known about the corruption in his mercs, how he had known that the resistance was plotting a master scheme against them, that was what was important. She squinted her eyes at him, her hands going to either side of her body in closed fists, that man made her crazy.

"But why-"

"Later, Ren we have business to handle." Ren gulped back the words she needed to say and stopped alongside Bane when they had made it to the group. Barsad stepped out of the way to reveal one single man behind him with cuffs hanging from his wrists. He wore a beige leather jacket and jeans. He retained quite handsome features, slicked back blond hair and tan skin, his eyes a dark blue and his lips nearly a pale white. The only thing that obstructed that handsomeness was the bloody nose he adorned, his crimson liquid trickled from one nostril down his lip and strong chin. A mercenary on either side held his arms to keep him from struggling, Ren could see him to be exactly that type of man to cower away.

"We killed the others, this one is the leader." Barsad explained gesturing to the culprit, Bane stepped forward to investigate, Ren glanced at Barsad.

"How do you know?"

"He was making all the orders."

"That doesn't mean he is the leader." Bane turned his head to stare at her, his eyes dark and strong into hers, but hers were directed towards the man before them.

"What are you thinking?"

"That this man was a fake, they wanted us to think he was the leader."

"And what would make you assume such a thing?" Ren shortened the distance between the man and her, she grabbed his jacket and unzipped it, lifting up the edge of one side to reveal a large metal walkie talkie. "How do you know Ren?" Bane repeated, Ren dug a nail in between the two split sides of the walkie talkie opening it to reveal a bunch of wires. She stared at the red flashing light, her eyes focused on it for only a moment before she felt Bane's hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him with a bewildered mind.

"Ren." He was much more insistent this time, the grip on her shoulder tightening just a smudge.

"It's a tracking device..." She muttered out with confusion, mostly directed towards how the resistance even got their hands on a device like this.

"From where?" Barsad asked, his eyebrows furrowing, moments later a bullet flew through the windows. Bane grappled his arms around Ren running then out of the way of the windowed doors to get cover. Mercenaries ran to and fro, the handcuffed man was dragged away by Barsad, who tossed him to the side. Bane's body engulfed hers, his palms flat against the wall on either side of her, but not paying attention to the closeness of their bodies in anyway.

Ren watched as two men wearing protective vests carrying machine guns entered in through the broken glass doors and a fire fight began between the mercenaries and the assailants. She watched as one by one the mercenaries were shot down, the unknown men running for cover every now and then, while bullets still shot through the window. Broken glass scattered across the ground and loud shots echoed through the once peaceful lobby.

Ren sprinted from Bane's cover and across the broken glass disregarding the pain that shot up her legs as the shards imbedded themselves into the bottoms of her feet. She jumped onto the back of the nearest attacker and cracked his neck, his dead weight pushing her down onto the floor. She grabbed his pistol, while the other turned and she shot him through the helmet he wore.

Men poured in from the street covered in the same equipment the others had been in. Ren shoved the dead man off of herself with a grunt and managed to shoot two men before having to take cover as the others shot at her. She groaned leaning back into a couch that sat inside the lobby, once made for visitors to wait now a shield from the incoming fire. She noticed Barsad shooting from behind the long desk where a manager once stood and decided to make that her destination.

She peaked over the cover of the couch having made it far from Bane's cover who had now started taking out men himself. He had taken cover near the column, having swiftly stolen a nearby rifle from a fallen mercenary. Ren cocked the pistol and went sprinting for cover by Barsad, in one skillful jump she leapt over the desk and landed in a crouch beside Barsad, with him was the man that was cuffed up. His face drawn with worry and pain as a bullet had managed to lodge itself into his thigh. She grabbed Barsad's sleeve and tugged him down to her level.

"I need you to get him out of here! Take him up a flight of stairs and I will be there when this is over!" She shouted over the boisterous gunfire, he nodded his head and moved to do as she requested. She could war the gunfire staring to die down, a few more men left from the enemy side, about three she could see from the vantage point of the desk.

She stood up and began shooting at whatever she could aim at, she shot down one, then two, but the third turned to her and shot a couple rounds before Rem could duck. She took cover behind the desk again, adrenaline pumping through her veins, shaky hands and sweaty palms. The pistol only had one bullet left it wasn't like there was much she could do anyways. So she waited until the fire had ended, the room was silent and nothing was her.

She went to stand up only then realizing a shooting pain coming from her side. She placed a trembling hand onto the counter and lifted herself up with a surprisingly crumbled strength. Her other hand reached for just above her hip and she paused. Her eyes went down to the now acknowledged wound in her side, she guided her eyes up to just across from her and saw Bane in the distance, but swiftly approaching.

Mercenaries came from their hiding places and began to collect amongst one another about the events that just took place. Bane vaulted over the desk and placed his large hand over hers, putting pressure on the bullet wound. Her legs buckled and he picked her up in his arms, lifting her up onto the counter.

"Get me a first aid kit." His voice was urgent, but in a calm manner, one of the mercenaries did as he requested. Bane lifting up the shirt to make the wound more visible before his eyes glazed over her toned stomach and met the scar that resided there. The entire time she examined his features, his expressions, and tried to decipher his emotions.

"You knew... You never needed me to go get information, you had all that you needed." His gaze directed towards her as always firm and overbearing.

"I did... I will only allow you very limited answers to your questions so be mindful of what you ask." The mask he wore accentuated his every word as he drew out the syllables to make them glazed over and demanding. She felt tears prickle at her eyes, not because she hated his voice, but because she loved it. He had lied to her and that was the only sign she needed to complete disregard any dreams she had of him ever loving her.

"Why did you send me away?"

"Because I needed to make sure of something."

"Make sure of what?" Her voice was restricted, she could barely breath.

"Your loyalty, I needed you to prove it to me." She sniffled averting her eyes out of pure embarrassment, but his fingers grabbed her chin and drew her glazed over orbs back to his own. "I cannot allow traitors so close, it could foil everything. I needed to know that I could trust you."

"I had already proven myself to you."

"Yes... But even the strongest of friends can become enemies." She placed a hand on Bane's shoulder and shoved him away, suddenly incensed by his proclamation. He could have tested anyone else, doubted anyone else, but he had to doubt her.

"Just leave me alone." She grunted painfully as she hopped off the counter and made her way towards the elevator. She kept pressure on the wound and tried to keep her legs from giving out. She was shocked with not only her own actions, but Bane's lack of action. This moment proved something, that Bane could only be trusted just as much as he had not trusted her. She entered the elevator and disappeared from the lobby with the closing of its doors. No one had seen her burst into tears the moment she was out of sight.


	7. JEALOUSY

**Chapter 7: Jealousy**

Ren winced as the needle took one final sift through the open skin, on the counter of the sink in front of her resided a fragment of metal that had remained after the bullet ran through her side, luckily having not met with any of her major organs. She stared up into the mirror, seeing the reflection of the once white sink covered in tiny droplets of her blood. Her hair was scattered, her eyes dilated and her wound still bleeding profusely.

She sewed up the rest of the wound and cut the thread, throwing the needle in the garbage can beside the toilet, then she took one last look at herself. Dry blood on her hands, long scar on her stomach and wound just far from it. She bit her bottom lip, she was so weak, she couldn't sleep, she was sore all over. She knew she was a monster, there was no hiding that truth, she was going to die like all the other monsters that went running around the city.

Ren brought a hand gently up to test at the wound with her index finger, wincing as soon as more pain shot up her side. She grabbed a towel and cleaned down as much blood as she could, some of it having stained her sports bra. She then flickered off the light and left to go down to meet Barsad.

She went to her room and dressed appropriately in case the situation called, a coat and jeans, Gotham was much colder at night. She stomped out of her room towards the elevator, but as though it was just her luck, Talia came walking through the doors as they slid open. Both woman stopped in their tracks and glared at each other with a sternness that they had never directed towards one another before. Ren felt no hatred for Talia, merely jealousy and she could only think that perhaps Talia thought the same, ever since she saw that her father had trusted Ren instead of herself with the blades.

"Hello Talia." Ren began, Talia nodded her head at Ren in response.

"Where is Bane?"

"I could care less where that man is." Talia cocked her head at Ren, Ren could see some form of panic in her eyes.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means I have other things to handle."

"Nothing more important than a meeting between old friends I hope." Talia made an innocent smirk and gestured to the couches as though they had been waiting especially for them.

"It has been so long since we talked, just us... Sisters." She placed a hand on Ren's lower back and guided her towards one of the couches and sitting her down. Ren tried to contain the wince that escaped her lips, but it was no use, the pain would be present for days. Talia ignored this and placed a hand over Ren's and stared into her eyes with a feigned sorrow.

"What is wrong?"

"It's Bane... I worry he might not love me anymore."

"Of course he loves you." Ren croaked out, trying to avoid the pain it brought her to speak those words.

"Oh no Ren, I think he lies to me and I need to know that when he fails I have your to trust." Ren suddenly felt offended, there was so little communication amongst the trio of tyrants that reigned over Gotham city that had began to go against one another, she shot up from her seat and shook her head.

"Talia, I love you as I would love my own family, but you of all people know that if Bane were to betray you... Then he would have done it earlier." Ren left for the elevator, leaving Talia to sit on the couch along with nothing more to ponder than Ren's words. Her expression was cold and dark, she stood up after Ren was out of sight and headed towards Ren's room.

Ren arrive at the second floor, it was mostly cubicles lines up in rows, papers scattered across desks and secluded offices. She saw Barsad in the distance, he had pushed a few pieces of finisher to the side leaving enough room for the prisoner to be kept on his knees, he held a pistol to the back of his head.

"Barsad, has he said anything my friend?" Barsad shook his head and lowered his gun, holstering it at his side.

"Nothing, that I would consider useful."

"What?" She stopped beside him and removed her cost to place it over the back of a nearby chair.

"Just muttering jumbled letters and numbers under his breath for the first few minutes."

"What code?"

"465N342S, if I recall..." Barsad itched his head. "Or maybe it's the oppo-"

"They are coordinates." She interrupted, holding her hand out to Barsad who gave her a knife in his pocket. She stepped around to face the man and fell onto her knees before him, bringing them to the same eye level. "To where?" She brought the knife to his throat and his eyes widened, he gulped. "If you tell me I will make your death a quick one."

"I ain't saying shit!" Her eyes keened and she read his every expression, dissected those few words. "You aren't an officer, are you?" He paused and didn't reply, knowing that if he said anything else, somehow she would know. The fact that he didn't reply, made her more confident that she was right. She stood up and passed the knife to Barsad, he placed back at his thigh cuff.

"What are you thinking?" His accent weighed heavily on the words and Ren sighed biting her bottom lip.

"I think that we are in for more than just rogue police officers fighting back for their community. I think we are in the presence of anarchists." She leaned back into a desk and cupped her chin, taking a silent moment to think to herself, eyes focused on the grey carpet flooring.

"How did you know..." Barsad glared at her weakly. "About the walkie talkie?"

"It was a wild guess, I knew that most Chiefs kept their talkies in the pocket of their coat. If it was wrong you would be looking at me like I'm an idiot right now."

"No..." He nudged her shoulder. "I must admit, I think of you as more of a leader than Ms. Al Ghul herself."

"Don't say that..." Barsad's smile fell, but Ren only smiled, it was the type of smile that belonged to someone who didn't know how to smile, she slapped his shoulder playfully. "She would kill you if you said that to her face." He laughed nervously, it was awkward when they at least tried to carry a normal conversation. She was use to taking Bane's orders and he was use to taking both of their orders. Their mouths were shut again and all that could be heard was the ragged breathing of their victim.

"How is your wound?" Barsad broke the silence, she shrugged.

"I sewed it up, the bullet was rough."

"Bane wasn't very happy when you left." Ren closed her eyes and shook her head.

"He could care less, we are all just pawns to him."

"But he respects us quite well."

"It's not the respect part that's the problem, if I were to shoot you right now he wouldn't punish me for it. He doesn't need us, any of us, we merely do the lazy work for him."

"You don't really mean that?" It was more of a question, Barsad still didn't know Ren long enough to say that she was worthy of making such an accusation or not. She was the one who spent the most time with Bane, but that made no difference to how trustworthy he made her out to be.

"I mean what I **have** to mean and Bane is a man that only means what he **wants**." Barsad nodded his head, he took out his pistol again and held it out to her, she mindlessly took it and held it up to the man's head.

"I'm sorry you feel that way." Barsad finished moments later.

BANG!


	8. Rage

**Chapter 8: Rage**

 _Talia's head rested on Bane's chest, her silk hair fluttered around his muscular pectorals and strong bicep that wrapped around her shoulder. Her fingers tentatively tracing patterns on his torso as she listened to his shallow heavy breathing beneath the mask. His eyes were closed as he attempted to at least breath in her scent, he could barely smell anything aside from metal and gaseous medicine._

 _"Bane..."_

 _"Hmm?"_

 _"It's Ren, she needs to go." Bane's eyes flashed open, it was a shock to hear her say such things. He knew Talia and Ren had a close relationship and in these past few months being around Ren, he understood exactly why._

 _"What do you mean? She is useful, she knows technology extremely well, interrogation, and proves to be a worthy assistant." He tried not to sound argumentative, the last thing he wanted was for Talia to leave him._

 _"You want me to love you, don't you?"_

 _"You do." He felt ashamed that he would question Talia, was he questioning her?_

 _"Then I need her dead, she foils our plans, she cheats and lies... Kill her Bane, we no longer need her to ruin our lives." Bane took a deep breath, his chest rising as he did. He was hesitant to give reply, she decided to push him a little further. "Bane..." Her voice shone with admiration and love, she sat up to stare at him, placing a hand on his mask the thin white covers held tightly to her chest. "What about our family? Our love? Don't you want to leave this place and get married? Have kids?"_

 _"With you." He replied, she smiled and leaned forward to kiss his bald head._

 _"Then you must kill her, she doesn't do any good for us."_

 _"At least let me prove-"_

 _"No, kill her Bane." Talia's voice was much more firm, Bane nodded and Talia returned her head to his chest. She giggled slightly and snuggled further into him._

 _"I was worried you didn't love me anymore." Bane's heart dropped, he was between himself. Ren or Talia? He had no choice in the matter. Talia._

Ren exited the elevator, it was mid day when she finally returned from her duties. She was exhausted having not slept most of the night. All she wanted at this moment was to meditate, train, or perhaps go jogging. Anything to pass the time for her and keep herself relaxed, she walked into her room changing from her previous clothes into a comfortable baggy grey shirt and black shorts.

Earlier this morning her and Barsad had to dispose of the dead body, then they had to go find those coordinates, which turned out to be a laundry mat. Barsad insisted that they investigate, but Ren immediately suggested keeping an eye on it. She wasn't skeptical that the coordinates that man gave were true, but she was skeptical that the mercenaries were able enough to just strike a straight forward assault, it needed a plan.

She exited her room and walked silently to the kitchen, she assumed Bane was either out or taking a nap, but she could assume much after what happened the day before. She grabbed an apple from the fruit basket in the kitchen and took to eating that for lunch. When she was finished she went back into her room and laid down on the bed staring up at the ceiling.

She could go jogging, but for some reason Ren was completely opposite of herself at the moment and felt like doing nothing instead. She placed her hand on her wound and felt over the stitches to make sure they were alright. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, a nap would be quite nice. She was half asleep when she heard a loud noise erupt from the living room. She stood up with a slight wince and stepped out calmly to go inspect the problem.

It was Bane and he had taken to kicking a foot the suze of her head at the nearest article of furniture, the wooden table he hit has broken and its contents now scattered across the floor.

"Bane?" His fists clenched and he looked over his shoulder at her with dark eyes.

"Where have you been?"

"I was attending business in terms of what had occurred last night." Professional, she had to remain professional and stoic and strong.

"You didn't think to report to me?"

"No, I didn't." His eyes keened in on her and he growled, crouching down to lift the bottom of the couch and flip it over as though it was cardboard. His breathing was raged and heavier through the mask.

"Why not? I am your superior."

"I did what I thought was correct, you may be my superior, but that does not make me your inferior."

"So you are suggesting you are my equal?" It was as if the tone of his voice was mocking her, she stepped forward. He used to always think of her as his equal, it went unsaid, but he gave hints to her at times that carried more respect for her than he had anyone else who worked with him, not including Talia, of course.

"I am suggesting that we work for the same cause, there are no ranks between us."

"Respect and trust are part of that cause Ren. You have lied to me lately and I will have none of it."

"I have not lied, I have not betrayed anyone." She crossed her arms. "Where is this coming from?" Bane averted his gaze for a moment, but it wasn't a show of weakness, instead of confusion.

"That in itself is a lie Ren." Ren looked over to the owner of the voice and her breath caught, how had she not noticed Talia enter the room? She chastised herself for getting sloppy for only a moment before realizing that Talia was carrying her blades.

"Where did you-"

"I should be asking you the same question. You stole these blades from my father, just like you stole my heritage, they rightfully belong to me."

"Your father gave them to me because he knew you weren't ready." Ren retorted, she could feel a wetness at the corner of her eyes, but pushed it away.

"Not ready?! So he gives them to you, the false daughter that he never truly wanted." Ren shook her head, Talia would never know how Ra's truly care for her.

"Talia, don't do this... Don't... Please."

"He thought you were worthy? Look at you now, begging to me... It's pathetic."

"You were supposed to be like a sister to me, think of how he would be ashamed to call you his daughter now." Ren dodged Talia's first strike, Bane merely watched from afar. He could have done anything, he could have intervened, but he didn't. Their system of justice to all of Gotham had now been clouded with corruption. Talia had gone mad with power and rage and jealousy, Ren ducked behind a lamp as Talia swung the blades at her again.

"You are not even his own flesh and blood."

"That is why he accepted me more than you." Talia swung the blades, this time much swifter and stronger, Ren ducked and vaulted over the fallen couch to rush around and casually fall into the button of the elevator. Talia was too lost in her anger to notice and Ren glanced over her shoulder at her as Talia jabbed the blade into the wall in Ren's place. Ren fell into a crouch and swung her legs around to trip Talia over. "Because he saw too much of himself." The elevator doors opened and Ren ran into them, they began to close... This time slower than usual and the last thing Ren saw was Bane's eyes staring into hers. They contained pain and forgiveness, Bane was a lost soul and Talia was his master.


	9. LOST

**I know it has been a while, but I am multitasking with my life at the moment. I am making an attempt at becoming an officer for the marines, so give me luck people. :)**

 **Anyways... Ignore me when you can. This chapter has no "concrete" Bane, but it does have a lot of conflicting emotions, particularly with what Ren is going through. This chapter is a very important aspect of how Ren makes her decisions from this point on so. I hope it isn't boring because Bane isn't involved, but I promise this will help everyone better understand of Ren and Bane's relationship and Ren's relationship with herself because that will be extremely important the next few chapters.**

 **There is also a little anecdote in the beginning, something you should all pay attention to because it hints a lot.**

 **I am sorry, I just really like literary devices.**

 **Chapter 9: Lost**

 **One Week later...**

 _When Ren was younger, about the age of sixteen, she would venture down to the tiny pond that resided near the temple. She started doing this when she felt sad, when she felt angry, or perhaps just like herself. She did this everyday at the same time, even when the snow became much more heavier in the mountains and the chilliness was nearly unbearable. She continued to visit this pond because it was her balancing point._

 _"Master, if you could go back in time and change your life, what would you do differently?" It was an odd question and obviously a bold one, but Ren had been receiving a punishment of cleaning the lower deck of the training room and he had given the punishment, the only other individual in the room. R'as sighed and sat back in his chair, crossing his fingers over his abdomen and stared at her with a glint of admiration._

 _"There are moments in which I wish I could go back in time and take all the sadness away, but I have a feeling that if I did, all the joy would be gone with it."_

 _R'as al Ghul had told her that everyone had their balancing point and that his was his daughter. The balancing point is something that brings you both pain and joy, how Ren had associated this pond with those things in her life she had never known. She had thought of many reasons as to why the pond signified such things to her and most importantly it signified more. This was where R'as had taught her how to fight with a katana, this was where she ran off to when Bane had yelled at her for not completing her duties, then of course this was a pond._

 _When the breeze rolled over it's clever waters she could see the pond in joy and when the ice covered it in a thick clear sheet she could see its pain. The pond was her balancing point somehow and she would never know truly why._

 _It was a much colder day when she had decided to skip training and head over to the pond. She had bundled herself up in a grey wolf skinned coat and headed out. The sky had darkened by then and the wind became much more fiercer. Needless to say that Ren was an idiot, she had gone out into the storm just to see her pond, she had fallen into the snow from her body freezing over, and she had nearly died that night._

 _She could barely make out the feeling of being lifted and carried away, it was as if she had been saved by some unknown stranger, but this man was only unknown in the sense of his past. He had brought her into the temple and laid her down onto the wooden boards of the ground, walking away before she could make out his image._

 _She didn't have to see to know who it was, the sound of an inverted breath and the feel of strong bricks beneath her was enough to give her a hint._

 _It was Bane and instead of guarding Talia as he should have been, he had been guarding her._

Ren could feel the soft silky covers consume her body, she could feel the light drift of cool air hitting her skin, her head supported by a feather filled pillow. When she opened her eyes she could barely make out her surroundings, but she knew it was something she wasn't familiar with. She groaned, moving her aching limbs around under the scattered sheets. Her eyes creaked open, she was in the lime light of rats that peaked through line blinds and a comfort she had never quite felt before.

She rose up from what she thought was a cloud and looked around just barely making out the furniture in the room she rested in. There was a dresser across from the length of the right side of bed, the bed width faced the door which hung wide open allowing the scent of eggs to float into her burning nostrils.

She thought this was a dream, the last thing she could remember was passing out by a large trash can that smelled like fish. Now she smelled like men's axe soap and was wearing a fresh pair of white boxers and overly large blue t-shirt. She considered this a dream because there has been similar ones like it, except Bane remained in the bed with her, a vestige of himself in a simpler time when the mask didn't hide those handsome lips of his.

She stood up from the bed, her les trembling under her weight, her vision cleared and she became more alert of her surroundings. She tiptoed over to the door and peaked out from the edge of the frame that looked out into a rather homely living room, across from that was a kitchen where a man in plain view was cooking eggs.

She did not recognize this man and became even more alert. This was no dream anymore, she snuck over to the counter just from the stove where the man had his bare back facing her and she could easily make her attack. She crouched out from behind the counter and crawled around it till she was behind him. She pounced, wrapping her arms around his neck and draggingq him to the floor, but he didn't let up without a fight.

He shoved her off of him and pushed himself up to his feet, holding the back of his head that had quite harshly hit the tile of the floor. He stared up at Ren who was blankly staring at him, ready to fight if it was required. He was handsome, his face was clean, his eyes a chocolate brown and his hair cut short and loose.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" His voice was the usual thick accent that all Gothamites carried proudly. Her eyebrows furrowed, she made no response and instead attempted a kick to his head, he ducked and then tackled her to the ground. She wrapped her legs around his waist and flipped him over, pressing her knee upward against his chest in which he grabbed it and used all his strength to lift her off of him. She was once again shoved to the side and at this point their conformation can be anything but an actual fight. It was as if some part of her knew that killing this man wasn't the answer, otherwise she would have snapped his neck in minutes. "I am the one that fucking brought you here!" Her complained and stood up with Ren, the two stared at each other for the longest moment before she put her hand out.

"I am-"

"I know who you are." He snapped and then rudely turned to the kitchen again to go check on the eggs. "Everyone in this goddamned city knows who you are." Ren crossed her arms and averted her eyes to the tile floor in shame, but still remained cautious of the man.

"Who are you?"

"My name is John and with your history that's all you need to know." Ren glared at his back, he was in nothing but a pair of long black cargo pants that went over the white tennis shoes he was wearing.

"Why save me if you knew who I was?"

"Because... I don't think you are as bad as your reputation has made you out to be."

"I have killed countless people, what gives you the benefit of the doubt?"

"Bane must have kicked you out for a reason, otherwise you wouldn't have been near that dumpster smelling like shit." His eyes shot down her body once more before meeting her eyes again. She knew every man's motive, the fact that she was a woman could have been the only reason he helped her and she felt some kind of resentment because he did.

"I was pitying myself, you shouldn't have helped me."

"Well now you owe me."

"How exactly?" He snorted a bit and then took the eggs from the pan and onto two separate plates.

"Sorry sweetheart, but you aren't that lucky." Ren scowled at him, turning her back to him to sit on the coach.

"I think you can give the resistance valuable information." He then walked into the living room with the two plates of eggs and two forks. He handed one to her and took a seat across from her in a lounge chair.

"I would never betray Bane like that."

"But it looks like he has betrayed you." Ren gulped and stared down at the eggs, her stomach tightened with hunger as she hadn't eaten for the last week, but she felt it wasn't a necessity at the moment and placed it down on the coffee table.

"Bane is only lost..." She sat back and stared at him. "He only knows what he is told because if he did anything else he would lose himself even further."

"Hmm..." John responded in between chews. "An interesting concept, I really don't care. It looks like..." He swallowed his bite. "You have three options to me, you can go back to Bane and get killed, die out there on the streets, or help us and get off with that life sentence you will live with when this is over."

"You really think this will end in your favor."

"At this point it ends in no ones favor, but like you I want to live so with your help we can make that happen."

"How do you know I want to live, I would suffer for my cause."

"I know you want to live because no one will do it for you." It was silent for the remainder of John's breakfast, Ren hasn't even looked at her food once after putting it down. John eventually ate it for her, he went into the kitchen once to get orange juice, but following that there was barely any contact between one another.

Ren was contemplating, she could betray Bane and join this man in the resistance or she could go back to Bane and beg him and Talia to take her back again. Ren knew the latter was weak, but her options were limited. All she wanted was to see Bane again, to see the admiration he held in his eyes when he looked at her.

It had become official, Ren was a tragedy, all she had ever wanted was to be loved and cared for and the moment she falls in love it's with someone who will never love her back. She needed to let him go, she needed to do something for herself.

"I will help you. Under one condition."

"And what's that?"

"I get to kill Bane." It wasn't because she wanted revenge or because she hated him, she wasn't even sure if she could kill him. It was because she didn't want anyone else to do it, she didn't think anyone was capable of even doing it, but there was only one worthy of doing such a thing. And she felt that was her.

"He's all yours." John stood up and began walking towards a door near the kitchen. "I left a pair of jeans on the dress that had belonged to my ex girlfriend before she left, you can wear those with one of my shirts." He said before he disappeared into the room, Ren went into the room and dressed in more suitable clothing. She didn't care that he had changed her himself before at this point she was only thinking of the future. Where were they to go from this point?

She changed into the jeans that were a bit to large around her waist, then she grabbed a black shirt from his dresser and put it on. When she finished, she went back out into the living room where he was waiting for her, he wore a grey t-shirt and held two jackets in his hand.

"Where are we going?"

"To see commissioner Gordon."

It was odd, their system of doing things was abstract to Ren. She entered the back portion of the laundry mat and saw the many faces of people who were once her enemy. They probably still were and that is exactly why she decided to just close enough to John and just farther away from them. They scowled at her, faces crinkling with disgust and absolute anger.

Ren knew that she wasn't popular amongst the resistance, but she also knew that she was the only option they had left. Without her help they wouldn't have a chance at defending Bane. John stopped in his footsteps directly in front of table that had a map of Gotham city placed over it. On the map were fresh red marking and black dotted lines shooting across it from location to location.

She stepped around John to stand at his side and looked down at the map. She knew what they were trying to do, maybe if they had the actual education they would understand they doing it wrong. She didn't pay attention to the fact that Jim Gordon was just on the other side of the table, glaring at her.

"Why did you bring her here?" He asked in an accusing manner, John signed, pulling his hands from the pocket of his jacket and placing them on the table.

"Bane kicked her out, she says she will help us."

"And then what?! Betray us?!" The man next to Gordon asked, he was pudgy, but intimidating nonetheless. Obviously the bulk of the group.

"That's why I am here." She replied in a sarcastic manner, keeping eye contact with Gordon the entire time. She could easily walk away from this and any chance they had at winning this would become nothing.

"She can stay, but only if she gets our men back. Three of them..." He looked down to the map and pointed to the courthouse highlighted in blue marker. "You know your men well, three of ours were caught in a recon mission to take food from the supplies they are hiding. We-"

"If you are dumb enough to do that your men deserve what is coming for them." Ren snapped at the commissioner, Gordon gritted his teeth together and sighed.

"The people are starving."

"I'm sure they are." Ren showed no care for them, it was really a matter of whether or not it was worth her time.

"You don't care?"

"I could care less, trust me."

"How can I trust you when you still have this idea that what you are doing here isn't wrong?"

"There are multiple perspectives to this situation." Gordon slammed his hand down on the table and John glared down at you.

"No there isn't, if your men died, how would you feel?" Gordon did have a point, Ren respected the mercenaries that Bane hired mostly because they were strong enough to fight alongside Bane and her. They were willing to be something greater.

"What is she doing here?" A familiar man stepped in from behind her, breathless and obviously incensed by her presence. Ren knew it couldn't have been anyone but Folley, in his long coat and button up. "She threatened to kill my family, my goddamned children, we should kill her right now and end this."

"She is here to help."

"No, I am here to assist. Two very different things to me, if I was helping you I would be doing it on my own valor. I don't want to go to prison after this, that is... If you defeat Bane."

"This is ridiculous! Someone get her out here." He flung his hand in her direction, everyone stared at him then back to Ren as though expecting someone to actually complete his request, but no one had the guts.

"I'll do it. I mean I really have no where else to go, but it's going to go my way if we do this. I make the plan."

"But we already-"

"It's shit compared to mine." Usually Ren was calm, but now she felt completely opposite of herself. It was like working under Bane had changed her greatly... The man she loved. "So here's what we are going to do..."


	10. PLAN

**Chapter 10: Plan**

The plan was simple, she was at first not attuned to how the detectives thought, but she eventually caught on that they were more efficient at a tactical approach than stealth. So she developed a plan that would tackle them both. She knew the schedules of the courthouse, she knew every man that guarded it and she more closely knew the judge.

She use to execute those few that had chosen the option and she had always promised to make it quick. She also knew when Bane would be there, a time she chosen particularly so. She made sure that he was there when this... rescue plan? Escape attempt? She wasn't really she sure what it was, only that he was a man that needed to be there to witness what he had done to her, what Talia had drawn her to.

Ren wrapped herself in the thick black coat, pulling the hood over her head, a few natural curls sticking out from the edges. She pulled a cloth wrapped around her neck up to cover her mouth, beneath her coat strapped to her torso was a bullet proof vest, the commissioner didn't trust her with any weapons.

She easily walked past the mercenaries guarding the entrance to the courthouse, sliding through the crowd of people that always seemed to collect in front of the judge's podium. She stopped at the edge of the group and found herself staring at the single man who was about to be convicted. From this point of view she felt a completely different sentiment towards this individual. Usually it was pity and nothing more, then there was guilt, but only when she felt they didn't deserve what they were undergoing.

"Please! I didn't mean to!" The man begged, Crane shook his head in a mocking manner.

"Well, I don't believe you." He grinned and gestured for the mercenaries to take him away to be exiled. Exile recently had been walking across the frozen waters that sat between New York and Gotham. Ren's eyes lingered around the crowd and she caught sight of John, she nodded to him and he returned it.

It was her turn now, she had given herself a difficult task, one that would put her life in danger and the reason she did it was so that Bane would know. Bane would find her amongst the crowd of people and make his decision. She stepped out from the crowd into the open area that the group surrounded. Many would have recognized her if she wasn't so adamant on covering of her face.

"And What can I help you with, my dear? If you have a complaint, write one down and put in the box at the front of the courthouse." There was no box at the front of the courthouse, this was no longer a democracy so why should there be? When she didn't move, Crane dismissed the fact that she wasn't going anywhere and gestured to the mercenaries again as if they were his men, not Bane's. The mercenaries stepped in, about to take her away when she pulled her face cloth down and the room silenced. Her hood followed, she kept eye contact with Crane. Everyone knew who she was because she was always there somehow, her presence was always thick in the courthouse because of what her job once was.

"I have..." She took a deep breath, only hoping that the distraction would do good enough to keep attention from the escapade. "I have returned for my sentencing." Bane pushed himself roughly through the crowd, as soon as his ears picked up her voice, to stand at its center. His eyes were fierce as usual, his presence well know amongst others, he was glaring at her with such an intensity that she didn't have to think once to know that her life was done for.

"Sentence? I know nothing of this..." Crane lowered his glasses to the edge of his nose towards Bane. "Bane?" The loud rasp of Bane's sigh echoed into the loudness of the court room. He stomped closer to Ren, until he was just arm's length away from her.

"Indeed, betrayal and thievery." Ren dropped her gaze from Bane, down to the crystal clean marble flooring. She couldn't dare look at Bane again after that statement and perhaps she wouldn't have to. A loud gunshot sounded and the diversion was set, the crowd scattered in panic and a fire fight broke out between mercenaries and cops.

Ren saw a dropped gun on the ground and went to run towards it, her body halted as a strong arm wrapped around her waist and yanked her down onto her back. Bane stood above her, staring down at her, incensed by the sight of her alone. He hunched over grabbing the hem of her coat and lifting her up from the ground.

"Your punishment should be worse than death." Ren wrapped her legs around his arm and flipped around to kick him across the face. She dropped to the ground when his grip on her coat released and began crawling forward away from his towering form. More gunshots sounded and those of the resistance began an even greater commotion. People hurtled over one another to exit the court house, running, screaming and ducking from bullets.

Bane snatched Ren's ankle and dragged her back. She didn't know why he was taking his time, he could easily kill her with a quick snap of his wrist. "Your punishment will be me." He lifted her up and slammed her head down into the marble flooring, she immediately felt blood trickle from the impact. Her vision blurred and her mind went fuzzy, she fell onto her back and angled her head up towards Bane. He stood above her, not done yet. She didn't pray to any God because she didn't believe in God, only the hell that she would most likely be sent to when Bane granted her mercy. She, however, was not willing to be seen weak to die when every one knew she was strong enough to survive.

She pushed herself up onto her feet and tried to steady herself, the crowd continued pouring out as if it was never ending. Bane stood across from her, but did not make his move until the courtroom was empty. Crane was gone along with the cops that had started the diversion. Her job of the plan was to distract Bane and she had done a good job of it, but if Bane was such a problem she could have chosen a different time to set forth the plan. The cops would never know that, she didn't want Bane dead, but she didn't want him to die by somebody else who didn't deserve to defeat him. She could only hope that it was the same on his side.

Defeat was an honor depending on who defeats the other and Ren knew she would lose, but she was thankful that it was Bane she would be losing to.

"You shouldn't have come back."

"I knew the risk when I came here."

"You helped them." He stepped forward, she made no move to step back. She unzipped her jacket and slid it off her shoulders to reveal the clothes that John had given her.

"Undoubtedly." She held a hand up to the blood line that now had trailed down to her chin. She swiped some of it away and bit her bottom lip to withhold the pained sound it had brought.

"So Talia was right?"

"Talia wasn't right until yesterday, when I was saved by a police officer. You both left me out there to die, I had no one else and you all betrayed me."

"I will not apologize." He took a step again, expecting her to step back, but she held her ground. That was the resilience he respected in her.

"You don't have to."

"Do you want me to kill you?"

"You are going to do it anyways."

"There are other options." She stepped forward and was close enough to punch him in the gut. Her fist clenched up under the hard muscle there and she quickly regretted her choice in combat. It was noiseless as her eyes met his and she could easily see the rage within them. He snatched her throat before she could react and she closed her eyes, grabbing his wrist with both hands in a vice grip as her windpipe felt the slow closing of his palm. Bane lifted her up from the ground, his grip tightening, she tried to swing her legs around and kick him across the face again, but his arm was extended to close to his body and her legs couldn't reach far enough to harm him.

"I see now that you are pathetic, a simple vessel, just waiting to be taken from this world." He dropped her and she fell to her knees before him, gasping for air. Her head slowly raised, red hand prints forming on her throat. "But I won't let you be taken so easily." He crouched down to her level. "Soon you will understand who you really are to me." He punched a fist across her face and that was the last thing she saw before she went unconscious.


	11. TRUTH

**Chapter 11: Truth**

A chilly liquid rushed over her in a matter of seconds, she jumped up from her unconscious state and looked around to find herself in darkness. She couldn't move, a thick rope wrapping around her torso and arms, strapped to the uncomfortable chair she was placed in. Her limbs ached, her head throbbed, her chest heaved, droplets of salty perspiration fell down her skin followed by the cold substance poured onto her moments ago.

Ren gasped for breath as best as she could, her eyes focused amongst the darkness, but she saw nothing.

"I do not think..." A dubbed voice was her light, it shines through the darkness and opened her senses. The scratching of a chairs legs against the ground reverberated through her ears till she could see the figure in front of her. Bane's towering figure placed the chair down, the backrest facing her, he straddled it and leaned into his cross arms. "You understand the trouble it was for me to keep your whereabouts secret." He finished, her lips trembled and no words left her when she realized there was no answer. Strands of her wet hair stuck to her forehead and dropped down over her shoulders.

It was quiet, dreadfully so, but she could see him staring at her, she could feel him near.

"W-Why-" She forced the word from her mouth, but it was the cold that prevented her from saying what she needed to say.

"There are things that your father would not want me to tell you, but you must know." Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes trying to make out his words. Her father was a horrible man, he was the reason she would forever be scarred, how did Bane know him? She said nothing in hope that he would continue. "Your father is Ra's Al Ghul."

The world paused for a moment, Ren knew nothing of what was reality and what wasn't. Not anything in her training could prepare her for the truth she would not accept. She had forever saw herself as unworthy of the League of Shadows, but here she sat because of them. Because of... **Him**...

"I was told to never tell you, I am the only one that knows-"

"Talia..." Ren breathed out, she sucked in oxygen through her nostrils and exhaled. "What of her?" The words were blurted out because Ren had trouble speaking. Her lunges began to burn and her eyes blurred slightly.

"She is your sister." Bane replied, his tone was stern and almost nonchalant. His words meant nothing to him, the reality behind this meant nothing because he had known it for so long.

"Why... D-Didn't he... Want... M-Me... To Know?" She took a deep breath in between each word, almost hyperventilating. Tears stung at her eyes, she used all her strength to keep them back, her head hung down as she tried to collect herself.

"It was too dangerous, people were out to kill him. At first he put me in charge of protecting you both until he saw that Talia had fallen in love with me and that was when I was excommunicated." He bellowed the last word, it almost echoed through the darkness of the abyss surrounding them. He stood up, the chair scuffing forward with a slight screech then he turned and disappeared into the darkness. "Your mother wasn't a princess, she wasn't the same woman that Talia had grown with in prison. He had fallen in love with another woman. He decided on leaving you both after your birth and when he returned years later to take you under his wing. He found that you had nearly died under the care of her. He decided to train you then." The pain in her chest subsided and she had found it was easier to maintain herself.

"I wish I had known."

"He respected you more than he had ever respected Talia. You are stronger..." Bane was back at the chair again, leaning into it glaring with his dark eyes. She loved those eyes, but could barely see them in this abyss that swallowed them whole. "Better even, but your weakness is obvious." He inhaled sharply, the mask causing his voice to be sketchier. She had learned over the years the emotions of eyes and his voice. She couldn't say that it was kept her alive, whenever she noticed his mood, but she certainly could say that it was a neutral feeling. His voice, however, was of a different pitch; it was a edgy, as though a pain she had never recognized in him before. She was not afraid of him up until she noticed this change, it scared her whenever something went from the norm. "Your feelings get the best of you." He knew her too well, he knew her better than she herself knew or understood. He knew her better than she knew him. "I know that you love me, Ren." Ren's breath caught, but it was a very small ounce of surprise that overran her. She, perhaps, had always known that he knew, but it best went unsaid. The hardest part was knowing that he didn't love her back, he loved Talia.

"It is hard to say that I reciprocate..." He sighed, his scratchy mechanical voice sent shivers down her spine. "It-" He spat it out, the heaviness of it all weighed on her chest. "Means nothing now." Did it ever mean something? How long had he known? She had so many questions, but she knew they would be left unanswered.

"I understand." She whispered mostly to confirm with herself, but Bane heard and he confirmed these words with himself also. She was dead, if not her body than her mind was lifted away by some unknown force. She didn't know why it hurt so much to know that he would never love her back, but it did. It heart like a cold blade directly into her chest and the fact that she allowed it, hurt her the worst. Ren was a tragedy within and without that man in her life.

"Talia has gone mad. The moment she knew you were alive, she told me to kill you..." She closed her eyes and nodded her head. "You know what I must do."

"But you have already done it." She stated, he coughed under his mask and sat much straighter on the chair, which he was still straddling.

"I cannot kill you, but what I have done is worse and what I am about to do I so very regret." Regret? She wanted to scream at him, he had hurt her more than anyone else and he knew it. The immortality of her pain would last forever, she was too far in, too in love with a man that would never be hers. A life she would never have, but a dream she would always know.

"I understand. I don't expect your mercy." She closed her eyes, having spoken upon her own accord, she knew her life would be short after this moment. She felt the gentle touch of a rough padded thumb against her cheek, then over her lips. She felt his mass in front of her, hovering over her, his forehead pressed against hers. She bit her bottom lip, her mind was a puddle of confusion. She wasn't sure what their relationship was anymore, but it certainly wasn't any less than it was. He pulled away quickly as if she had burned him, as if he had been burned from the inside out.

It was all gone, he was gone, there was nothing and it seemed the darkness had taken her completely yet again. It was broken apart by the loud screeching of a metal door being open, followed by the bleeding light that leaked through it. She closed her eyes and turned her head away, the chair that was once in front of her was gone. The door's shape trimmed the light directly onto her, her bright blue eyes almost opaque under the glare of its power. The warmth was what she welcomed. Bane's towering figure stood at the door, his shadow was all she could see. Nothing more was said and he was gone, shortly after his disappearance another shadow walked in. He was hunched over and plump, a shroud wrapping his body by the looks of the light past the thin material.

She gulped and waited patiently for what was to happen next. She felt the binds loosen around her and then drop drop from her. She placed a hand over the man's cheek, the lower portion of his face covered in stubble, he was old and broken. The light shun on his eyes, which appeared dull and sullen.

"Who are you?" She whispered, he took a deep breath and then continued to releasing the binds around her feet.

"Bane has instructed me to watch over you, make sure you do not leave." His. voice was touched by an accent she had heard before, but thought nothing of until now.

"Where am I?" She knew that he had hidden her, but she had not known where.

"You shall see." He stood up and held his hand out to her, the binds were relieved from her body. She took his hand and she was helped out of the seat, her legs trembled, her body still half asleep. She stared up into the light and she walked towards it, when she was strong enough she released his hand. Like a doe taking its first few steps into life, she exited out into the sun. It's rays beamed down onto her and accentuated the hell she was in, the hell she knew she was in.

Her face was wet from tears she did not know were there and her heart was pounding faster than it ever had in her life, causing a physical pain and draft in her breathing. She looked around at the unfamiliar faces covered in dirty rags of clothing, strutting around with no real reason. She breathed in the scent of death and the earth, the prison she had found herself in seemed like a pipe crawling up towards the sun. Catwalks went this way and that, the railings rusty from age and broken to certain degrees. The man who had helped her before walked up beside her, he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"He told me about you. He respects you."

"It is a respect of a little amount."

"No, if he hadn't respected you he wouldn't have explained why you were here." She angled her head slightly, eyes had not met his yet.

"He explained nothing, it was not necessary for an explanation." She was exhausted, but it seemed as if she had slept forever. "What is your name?" She received no answer, she turned her head in his direction. He was staring up blankly at the opening of the prison towards the empty sky, where the sun was all he knew. She could see the longing in his eyes, she cocked her head to the side.

"I don't remember it." He muttered out, her features softened, this place would made her wish she had never known Bane. This place would be her end, break her, make her grateful she actually had things at some point. But she had lost those things now, it would be the little things that she would miss first. Bane's brown eyes, the glint of Ra's al-No! Her father's swords, the wind in her face, the night moon, and most importantly the freedom. The killing would follow, she was a killer, a monster at heart, and eventually she would miss taking another's life. Then she would forget her name, it was a simple name, but would be forgotten nonetheless. The memories, the memories of where the scar came from... Of what **he** did to her.

"Well, then I will call you Nazir." He awkwardly looked back at her with confused eyes.

"Nazir?"

"Yes."

"No one has ever called me anything before. Not that I can remember." She nodded in response, her hands gripped tighter onto the railing.

"Where am I?"

"A place of darkness, a place of death and destruction, escape has only ever been accomplished by one..." Her eyes flickered to the rope hanging against the edge, a tiny ledge stood there and stones of such protruding out until freedom. "The pains of sorrow drive you here, where monsters lurk, hell, a place worse than it..." He began to drift away, her mind fluttering with fear, fear of uncertainty. "Welcome to the Pit."


	12. SILENCE

**This is the chapter where Ren gets extremely depressed and suddenly has an epiphany involving her dad. Enjoy! :)**

 **Chapter 12: Silence**

One month had passed, Ren remained observant and quiet, that was what had made her so dangerous from the beginning. Nazir would bring her food, she would sit in her cell and refuse to leave. She thought about a lot and thinking was something that was more of a disadvantage to her. But suddenly she didn't know what to think of, she wasn't sure of anything. So she told herself to not think of anything at all, to lessen her worrying and her pain. She spend her time meditating and training; one hand-hand stands, sit-ups, wall sits, pull-ups, push ups, and yoga.

Every so often her mind would switch to Bane and she would wish he was there. Sleeping was hard for her, it wasn't the darkness at night that scared her, it was her dreams. She would sleep for a few hours and then suddenly be pulled from rest by a jolt or an image in her head. When she would awaken, she would throw that same old shirt on and exit her cell to stand out on the catwalk over looking the domain of the prison.

The moonlight was no savior, the darkness made the pit feel like the cold, moist hell that it was. She loved the darkness, but much like what had happened in the sewers, she craved the light just as much. She would return back to her cell, to lay on her cot and stare at the ceiling. The days that went on were lonely, she could feel herself deteriorating from the inside.

She wasn't hateful of Bane, it was her own doing that had brought her here. She would forever know that she could never kill that man or hate him for long. It was because she loved him. It wasn't his brains and muscles alone that drew her, it was his darkness, his cold, calculating persona that she adored. She wanted to warm him, keep him in her arms and never let go. She dreamt of him some nights, on those nights she slept the best. Sitting at the edge of her cell, she realized things.

She realized her hopes and dreams, aspirations and inspirations. She noticed how dull they were, how she had never really had any. But sitting her at the edge of her cell... She realized things. She had always wanted to be a teacher, a mother, a pilot, maybe even a dancer. These were things at the pit of her soul that she had never realized before, things she had once had as a child slowly washed away by horrid events of her past. It was a deluded mix of happiness and desire, her dreams were once to climb Mount Everest and land on the moon. When the month had ended so did her dreaming and moping, whatever had happened to her, she was now a blank canvas.

Nazir entered the cell with a tray of cold soup in his hand, he placed it down beside her, but did not leave.

"A man wishes to speak with you. He can help you."

"I don't want help. If Bane brought me here than he obviously doesn't want me to get help with anything or from anyone."

"Helplessness is not why Bane brought you here." She finally looked over her shoulder at him, her eyes were darker than they usually were, her lips were dry and her skin hoarse with dirt. "The cell is not far down the staircase to your left, it is two doors down from the last stair." Nazir informed her because he wanted her to see this man, he had seen people react like this to the pit before and it never ended well. He promised Bane something else, something that didn't pertain to keeping her trapped in here. If he was asked of it again, he would say it meant nothing, but In fact, it meant everything.

She listened carefully as Nazir left the cell, biting her bottom lip nervously. Torn between going to this man and speaking with him, to staying in here as long as she felt she needed to be in here. Her body, however, moved on its own accord. She had lifted herself up from the ground onto bare feet, her boots had been discarded and placed beside the cot. The shirt that John had given her was ripped and dirty, she used it as a cleaning rag for her face and hands now. The jeans he had provided for her, she had taken off because they were annoying in this heat. This left her in a sports bra and compression shorts that barely met mid thigh.

She was exposed to criminals, rapists and murderers, who wouldn't once hesitate to gang up on her. She was nude to the ways of man, mentally, the League of Shadows was not there to protect her any longer. Her scars were for all to see and her toned muscles were known by the world. Her feet padded against the stone floor as she walked towards the entrance of the cell. Peeking out in a cautious and paranoid manner before furthering towards the railing across from it.

There was no point in hiding things here, an individual stays in so long that they get to know every one else after trying to know themselves. She gazed up at the top of the pit and took a deep heavy breath, before looking to her left where a set of metal stairs went down to the second catwalk. She sauntered forward before he feet could realize it, the cold stone beneath them sending tingle up her body and to her brain.

 _I see now that you are pathetic, a simple vessel, just waiting to be taken from this world._

It called to her, the ways of the world and who was she to deny them?

She could hear him, his soft melodic voice and she did not need to see him to know it was her father. Her real father. She was then in front of the cell, Nazir had told her of. She had noticed the lengthy walk it to her to get there and did not mind.

Her breath hitched as she entered the cell an aura of sorrow surrounded her, it weighed over her lunges. She gripped a hand against a bar of the cell, her eyes finding the man who laid in the cot. She stalked closer to the cot, worried what she might find if she kept moving forward and her fears were confirmed.

"Bruce Wayne..." She whispered, but this snapped the once significant vigilante from his sleep. He was covered in a thin sheet of sweat, his eyes glaring at her with pure rage and his chest heaving.

"You!" He shouted angrily between clenched teeth and pointed at her accusingly. He snatched for her, but she stepped away, watching with a hard gaze. "You!" His holler echoed through the prison, she choked back the tears stemming at the corner of her eyes. When Bane had left for two days it was to bring Bruce here, she had watched as ha broken the Barman, but now he was waiting to break the man behind the bat. The only way to do that was to have him watch his city. He hurled himself off the cot, but as soon as he hit the floor he yelped and went still with a hazy look on his face. "You..." He muttered sleepily, obviously exhausted and physically broken. Nazir came into her line of sight and helped Bruce back up onto the bed, he then pointed behind her and she turned.

 _The hardest part in understanding the truth is knowing that it is never permanent._

A man sat there; he was in thick red robes, he was old in age and bald, but another thing that brought his attention was that he was blind.

"His name is Hassan, he has something for you." She lifted her chin up slightly and then pressed forward, lowering onto the ground on her knees in front of the man in red. The bars of the cell beside the one Bruce was one was the only thing separating them.

"Hassan... What is it you have for me?"

"Your father... He told me to give this to his daughter, Alugana." Ren averted her eyes, her eyes closed at the horror behind her real name. This blind man had not seen her or known her, but he somehow knew who she was.

"My name is not Alugana anymore, I would like you to call me Ren." Hassan stuck his arm out between the bars in a swift manner. He opened his hand and within it were several black pill shaped tablets.

"We will not be speaking again, child. So it does not matter." She hesitantly took the pills, she held them in her palm and stared down at them curiously, using the index finger of her other hand to nudge them about.

"What do they do?"

"They give you a path." Ren was conflicted with herself again; she could take the risk of this man being crazy and the pills being poison, or she could trust her father. A father she would never truly love as a member of her blood, but as a master of her knowledge. "Thank you." She muttered, holding the pills with a vice grip.

"You- You will not win." She heard a hiss come from the broken man behind her, she turned to face him, still sitting on the stone.

"I don't care about winning anymore."

"Why..." He took a deep breath. "Why are you here?"

"Bane brought me here after I betrayed him, or in some manner I did."

"You put me here. You wanted to destroy my city."

"It was never about destroying your city, it was about saving it. But Talia got out of hand."

"Talia?" Ren shook her head, she had already said too much. Bane had other plans for him, she stood up and went back to her cell taking the pills with her.

That night she closely stared at the pills in her palm, trying to determine whether or not they were worth taking. The pills could very much not work, what they were made of was unknown and she wasn't sure how crazy that blind man was. It must be scary, being blind in the middle of hell, even a place more worse than hell.

She had nothing left to lose anyways, she always had nothing to lose. It's what made her expendable because she had no one there to miss her.

 _A secret is far better to keep in one's body than one's soul._

Ren looked up at the wall across from

her, blankly, there was nothing there so she didn't know what she was looking for. The realization of everything crossed her expression, she needed to get out of here, but first... Her father wanted her to know something. She picked up a black pill and pinched it delicately between her index and thumb, the other two still resting in her other palm. She held it up before her face, then before doubting anything slipped into her mouth and swallowed. She laid back on the cot and stared up at the ceiling, her hands resting on her stomach. She turned her head to the side, placing the remaining pills on the floor floor beside the cot. Her hand returned to her stomach, caressing over the scar that resided there. Her eyes drifted shut and her breath evened out, she was gone.

 _Ren jolted awake, her breathing sounding through the confined space, wide eyes. She was no longer in a cell, but a room... Her old room at the temple. The sun bled through the shutters sliding door across from her bed. She heard laughter muffled from the other side, she stood up from the cot, eyes squinting and shoulders raised._

 _She then heard quick footfalls run across the deck outside the door, a silhouette of someone tiny, more laughter followed. She relaxed slightly, her feet pressing against the smooth wood as she stepped closer to the door. She grabbed the bar horizontal up the side of it and slid it open with a wavering choice._

 _She gasped and stepped back when two young girls came running past the door; their shoes stomping against the deck and giggles resounding through the garden. It was a garden, the garden was the prettiest in the spring and it surrounded the side of the temple. Ren stepped out onto the deck and watched as the two familiar girls ran around the assortment of flowers and stone waterfall ponds._

 _"Ren, slow down I can't catch you."_

 _"You can run faster Talia, come on. Catch me. Catch me." Ren felt herself tense up, the salty liquid of her sadness formed before she could recognize it. Her innocence was gone now, but even after the events of her youth, she could still have fun. Those were the days she didn't cry about what happened, the days they weren't training, the days that Talia and her could just be friend... Sisters._

 _Talia tripped and fell, the young version of Ren stopped and went to help her._

 _"You okay, Talia? I'm sorry. I can be 'it' next time."_

 _"No it's alright." Ren held a hand out to Talia and lifted her up, Talia hugged her after brushing the dirt off of herself._

 _"Why don't we play hide and seek now?"_

 _"Sure. I will find you." Ren replied and Talia ran off, the real Ren smiled, a tear drifting down her cheek._

 _"You both use to be so kind to one another..." Her eyes darted to the warm body beside her, it was Ra's and he looked younger and better than ever._

 _"Then everything became a competition." Ren finished, dropping her head._

 _"Ready or not here I come." Her child self shouted and then ran in the direction Talia went._

 _"Talia made it a competition."_

 _"You expected too much from us." But her words she knew were only true in some manner, he pushed them hard to make them stronger._

 _"How else would you be as capable as you are now?"_

 _"I know, thank you for that." Ra's pointed out to a bush at the corner of the garden, Ren followed his gesture and noticed Talia hiding in the bushes. She smiled. He turned to stare at her._

 _"I would like to think that you both went through the same amount of pain, but I would be wrong if I did." She closed her eyes, her lips twitching slightly, but still forming a placid line._

 _"I feel hurt. It hurts."_

 _"It is going to, but you can still change things, Ren. I have faith in you."_

 _"You always have." His hand grabbed her chin and the other her shoulder, turning her to face him. "I never understood why." She finished, his hand moved to her cheek and she leaned into it._

 _"You are strong, I would have made you the leader of the League of Shadows before my death, but I knew you were lacking something." Her eyes fluttered open, his thumb wiped away a tear and he gave her a tiny smile. "You were too good. Too much goodness within you. But you have two sides to yourself. I couldn't watch you be torn apart by your own decisions." He pulled his forehead away, hand still on her cheek and he pointed in the distance. Talia was coming out of her hiding place with a pout on her expression._

 _"Ren, why aren't you-" Talia was cut short as Ren dropped from the tree branch above her and pinned her to the ground._

 _"Found you." Talia let out a shrill of anger and pushed Ren off of her. Ren's smile fell as Talia brushed the dirt off herself, standing up._

 _"You never play fair." She accused with an angry expression, crossing her arms and stomping her foot. Ren picked herself up off the ground and sighed, dirt covering her elbows and knees._

 _"I'm sorry, Talia. We can-"_

 _"No, I am not playing anymore games with you. You don't know how to do anything." The young Ren frowned and looked down at the earth as Talia walked away, out of the gardens. Ren sat down on a stone nearby and sulked in sadness._

 _"I am sorry." She muttered to herself._

 _"You were always alone, Talia was the only friend you ever knew and she discarded you." Ra's stated, although it best went unsaid, Ra's had a way of pointing things out that needed to be said despite their horrid truth._

 _"But the truth can change."_

 _"Fix things for me, Ren. I trust you more than anyone else with this burden. Face your fears, the unexpected is always going to be ahead of you... Don't let them control you." His voice faded out and the darkness emerged, Ren sniffled and wiped her tears away. She looked down at her thumbs, fiddling with them for a moment. She then rose her gaze to the little girl still sitting on the stone, she wished she could tell her young self how things would go. How her decisions would matter._

 _How things would change._

 _"I won't... I promise."_


	13. JOURNEY

**Hello fellow earthlings...**

 **I am sorry if it seems as if I have not been on this planet at all these past few weeks, but I have my reasons. I have an entire plot for this story, I already have a plan for how it will end and possibly how it might move into a sequel, but. The issue at hand here is now that Ren is in the pit there are multiple ways in my head that she could escape, but I have an insanely hard time typing it out. I don't know what is going on, but every time I type stuff it doesn't flow well. Here is what I was working on... All I ask is that you guys give me your opinion on it. Should I continue with this or should I skip to the part where she escapes and is in Gotham again... Either way is fine with me.** **I just don't want to force things and it just doesn't flow well after I read it** **, so if I have to I might as well move on and get back to it when my mind can put this shiznit down. :)**

 **Chapter 13: Journey**

Ren knew what she had to do, but even if she did. How would she do it? Her heart was still shattered, Bane hadn't broken her spirit, but he had definitely broken her heart. She looked up from her bowl of soup, Nazir sitting across from her eating his. After she had woken it was hard for her to distinguish reality from the abstract. Her fears seemed to be more real than she herself could say and acknowledge. She wouldn't fail.

"There has to be another way out." Nazir stopped and glanced up at her, shaking his head.

"There is no other way."

"How else do they get the prisoners in, the above must be a distraction to them, a goal. How do others get out if they can't escape that distraction." Nazir sighed, shaking his head.

"There is no other way." He repeated, she lowered her head back down to stare at the soup. What could she do? "Bane doesn't want you to escape."

"It is not his decision." She replied hoarsely, taking a sip of her soup. Bane seemed to be a name now only associated with pain and suffering. It had always been that way, but she could see it more now than she ever had before.

"Do you hate him? He didn't want you to hate him, when he brought you here."

"I don't know how I feel about him." She whispered to not only herself, but in response. It wasn't a sufficient response, but at least it gave Nazir a distant thought. "I don't want to talk about him."

"Then we can't talk about escape either." She slowly placed her bowl down, it and then her hands went to her knees. She was sitting Indian style on the concrete floor beside the bed, her hair hung over her shoulder.

"What about Bruce? Will he escape?" Nazir snorted as though she was joking about something and shook his head vigorously.

"Only one has escaped."

"Talia. I know." Ren said, she took a deep breath as flashbacks of her child came to her mind. Talia did not know what she had been through and Talia would never know. To say that Ren was envious of Talia's childhood life in this prison was an understatement. But that envy was hid so well-

"There is no other way." Ren exhaled through her nose, she bit her bottom lip. A portion of the light from outside the cell, gleaming in on the side of her face.

"Then you know what I have to do." She stood up and walked towards the entrance of the cell, she looked over her shoulder at Nazir. "Come, walk with me." Nazir stood up hesitantly and followed after Ren, there was a dull curiosity that told him she was up to no good.

"Bane, he didn't bring you here to be trapped. He was trying to save your life." Nazir explained as they both cleared the staircase with fast feet and began making way for Bruce's cell.

"I don't care why he brought me here. In fact if he hadn't, I wouldn't know my true purpose."

"Which is?"

"To save the League of Shadows." She could feel the tension in her words, not even she herself believed them. She was afraid. She was human. She was unsure of herself. She was human. Sometimes she wished she wasn't. She stopped at the entrance to Bruce's Cell. He was hopelessly staring up at the ceiling with sorrow filled eyes, in obvious pain. Nazir placed a hand on her shoulder and she looked over at him.

"Do not do it." He warned in barely a whisper, she shrugged his hand off her shoulder.

"I have to get out of here." She gazed over at Bruce again. "He is the only one who can help me."

"And how do you know?"

"I don't." She stepped forward into the cell, her legs unconsciously taking her closer to the bunk. Bruce slightly tilted his head over, his eyes gradually coming towards her. Their eyes connected and she could see the hatred within his own. "You may think that we are very different and we are." She gulped, eyes shifting to the ground. "But there is one thing we have in common, we both were put here by Bane and we both want to stop him."

"You are going to rot down here." He whispered, it was a promise, his gaze strict and unwavering. She stepped away, knowing it would be no use to continue further. She looked up at Nazir, who was standing in the doorway with a sad look on his face.

"I have to get to the top."

"There is only one way." He said again and she took a deep breath.

"There has to be another, I don't trust it."

"There is no other." That was when she detected the wavering in his words, she could not discern if it was out exhaustion or out of lies. She didn't press the matter any further.

That night she was restless. Although she trouble sleeping mostly ever night since she had been in the pit, this time it was different. Something had been gnawing at her the entire time, something deep down inside telling her there was another way. She had no doubt that she could complete the climb, but why waste her time trying to do that when there was a quicker way to go.

She stepped out of her cell and stood upon the edge of the catwalk, she stared down at the mini groups that had branched around the lower portions of the prison. There were small fires here and there that they sat around, talking amongst one another in a foreign language. The night was restless in itself, the pit was hell and hell never slept, it was dark and dingy. Much more colder than it was during the day, when that limited amount of sunshine leaked in from the top. The walls of the pit were littered with dark shadows that hardly anyone could see. But Ren could see them, they were taunting her, whispering to her the evils that she would find.

Her mind kept drifting off to Bane, she missed him, despite the fact that he probably didn't miss her. She felt that she was pathetic, a tragic hero and her weakness was the man without tangible lips. Or at least unseen, those lips she dreamed of, that mask was something that hid them, hid her dreams.

The most ambiguous moments she had with Bane were what she held the tightest, she would not allow the pit to take them away. It already was slowly rotting her insides, what else could she do? She felt these moments were her identity, those moments when Bane would say something to her that wasn't about work, when he would compliment her and it almost seemed genuine. However, even the most romantic phrases could be somewhat innocent.

She glanced over and down the metal steps leading towards Bruce's cell. He wouldn't help her and as she looked up to the wall and to that ledge, she knew she could only help herself. Her grip tightened on the rusty metal bars, her teeth clenched, and her eyelids drifted over her eyes with something of pain. The pain she could never get used to.

Suddenly the world seemed emptier than it had been before and there was a mellow silence throughout the Pit. Two arms encircled her waist rather roughly, she worked off of instinct and pulled her legs up to kick at the metal bar and pushed the stranger onto the ground inside her cell. She swung her elbow into his gut, grimy hands clawing up her chest and onto her lips to silence her cries. She could easily break his hold, but lips stopped above her ear and she froze.

"I know how to get out." A thick accented voice mumbled in her ear, she struggled away from the man and stood up, slowly inching away until she was against the bars into her cell. She leaned at him, trying to catch her breath as the dark figure lifted himself up off the ground.

"Who are you?"

"That doesn't matter. Don't you want to get out?" She spat at the ground, the dirt that had been encrusted around his fingers sticking to her lips.

"I do, but at what cost?"

"A simple one, all I ask is that you help me free upon your escape." She stared at his dark silhouette, he wasn't a very tall and intimidating man and by the subtle moonlight gleaming into the cell she could make out his dark brown skin. His dark eyes and black beard, body covered in a grimy substance.

"How do you know another way to escape?"

"Because I don't belong here." She squinted at him and shook her head, utterly confused at that moment.

"If you know how to escape, then why won't you do it?"

"The last man that tried died, you will have to be very desperate in order to escape this way." Ren was no idiot, but she was indeed desperate and she needed to escape as soon as possible.

"Tell me." She demanded firmly, although it might be her death wish, her curiosity was surprisingly still present. It even shocked herself that he wanted to know.

"There is a pipe that is thin, mud and sewage trails down it and into the pit. It leads into the outside world. It should be no problem for you-"

"Where?" She interrupted, her demeanor becoming harsh and impatient, impatience being something she wasn't entirely accustomed to. The man smiled, his rotten and broken teeth revealed past dry lips.

"I won't tell you anything unless you promise me freedom. I am in char-" Ren stepped forward and the man's words caught short. Everyone in the pit by now had determined that Ren was not someone to be messed with, if she was anything like Bane then...

"You will tell me, or I will make you." The man resorted to begging, he fell down onto his knees before her and whimpered, pleaded, did everything she was desensitized to.

"No." She whispered back, but then remembered what her father had said, what she had forgotten and now, what she needed to do. "Rise." She demanded, he stood up slowly and she placed a hand on his shoulder. "I will help you escape if you show me where this pipe is." She wasn't sure if she was lying or telling the truth. Should she help this man escape?

"T-Thank you." He muttered, he stood and left the cell, her fists clenched and she closed her eyes. She felt some unknown rage, but she wasn't sure who it was directed to. Her resentment towards Bane had dissipated, but her thundering heart had not. Perhaps that was the seed of her anger, the seed that lit the dirt beneath her feet and melted it like hot magma.

"I did not wish for you to find out this way." Nazir had found himself at the entrance of the cell, his shadow obstructing the moonlight from drawing into the dark and desolate place she had come to call home.

"I would have found out anyway. I knew you were lying."

"I suspected you did. It is a deadly task, I hope you do not go on with it."

"I have no other choice."

"Then you are on your own." He had treated her like a tragedy and she was, her fear of not knowing was something that had always taken advantage of her success. But this fear needed to be taken down and consumed, it needed to be controlled and she would conquer it by doing this. By escaping the pit.


	14. PATHETIC

**Sorry, it has been a while guys. Hopefully this chapter will be as good as the last one. I decided to continue on, instead of skipping the pit escapade. Plus, I might get a little further into Ren's past because I don't feel like I was descriptive enough previously.**

 **Chapter 14: Pathetic**

It was silent, which was something Ren had grown use to, but this silence was odd. She crawled forward across the moist, rocky floor that the cavern provided. Her hands covered in dirt, strands of hair sticking to her forehead by thick sheets of swear, eyes reflecting upon the faint light, coming from the opening of the pit. She tilted her head as her eyes focused through the darkness, a man, several. They covered themselves in long shrouds of shrunken and beige material, bare feet, calloused and broken skin. They stood at the catwalk that led up to the pipe.

The Pit had its affect on everyone, both physically and mentally, but these men were affected by neither. Their appearance was of themselves, a natural overlay of years of hard work and filth. Her hand caressed up the side of the concrete wall and she leaned back against. Eyes focused on the men that seemed so far out, but so blended.

"Who are they?" She whispered over her shoulder, the man who had told her about the pipes coming up behind her.

"They are the guards, they disguise themselves as prisoners to be ambiguous, they prevent riots and such."

"But those happen all the time."

"Did I say they do their job? Now quick, go do yours." Ren stared longingly at the men, then suddenly her back became straighter, her stance taller, her chest puffed out. If they looked they would have seen her.

"No." The man bounced back, blinking several times. He thought he had her under his control, he couldn't have been more wrong.

"What?!" The man hissed, reminding himself to lower his voice. Her gaze still transfixed upon the men that blocked in her mind, her only way of escape. "What do you mean?" He whispered in her ear, nearly growling loud enough for his voice to echo through the soft cavernous walls of Hell.

"They are waiting for us. They are doing their job." His eyebrows furrowed an his face wrinkled in disgust.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"It's a subdued state of mind, you do something long enough and it controls you." She takes a step forward. "These men want me to do this, they want me to fight them and try to escape." She takes one more step forward, her foot hitting the floor loud enough for their ears to pick up. The men turn their heads in her direction, all attention falling from the once interesting exchange of words. The man cowered backward into the darkness, but Ren kept on forward.

"What are you doing back here?"

 _"The water is so beautiful though, Master." A young girl grazed a hand across the surface of a pond._

 _"But it is dangerous. Sometimes you have to realize..." He crouched down beside her and placed a leave in the water, she looked up at him; adoration, admiration,_ _pride. "That something can be both."_

"What are you doing here?!" Ren ignored the off-handed question and went straight into the fire. There were three of them, closing in on her. She was not supposed to be in this part of the prison, this deep in it. She threw a punch, sending a crack through the air.

 _"Ren." A voice hissed at her, the metallic gratings of a mask on each word. A hand snatched her wrist and she looked up into dark brown eyes. A morsel of pain running up her arms and mildly subduing her_ _consciousness. "It's not time for dinner yet." He released her hand when Ra's Al Ghul entered the kitchen, Talia following close behind._

 _"Yes, Bane. I apologize." Ren replied sheepishly before stepping away from the wooden counter. He had touched her. His hands so rough, her mind so young._

Her arms were each taken by a guard, holding her back as the third one threw punches at her stomach. She spat up blood, aiming to the one on her left and elbowing him in the face.

"Fuck you." She hissed, sweeping a leg under the other he fell to the ground and she punched his face. The one that had been punching her, grabbed her hair and dragged her off of the man. Ren let out a loud scream, her jaw almost collapsing at its intensity.

 _"Stop! Stop it! Don't hurt me! Stop please." She screamed, her body tossing from side to side. Her eyes flashed open and she jumped up from her bed. Talia sat up in hers, which was directly across from her own and stared. Ren sat on the edge of her bed breathing heavily, staring down at the wooden floorboards. Frantic footsteps came stomping down the hallway, Ra's Al Ghul slid open the paper like door, Bane behind him with a candle in his hand._

 _"What is wrong with her father?" Talia asked, lifting the covers up to fully engulf her petite body. Bane's eyes glared wide at the shaken figure of a child Ren sitting upon the edge of the bed. Ra's approached, crouching down in front of Ren and placing a hand on either side of her face. Tears skimmed down her cheeks, she grabbed his wrists._

 _"Stop it." She whispered. "Don't hurt me daddy." Ra's used a thumb to wipe her tears away. "Please."_

 _"Your father is dead, Ren. He won't hurt you ever again."_

 _"No. He is alive. I see him everyday. In my dreams. He is alive." She replied, wrapping her arms around Ra's' neck. He hesitantly returned the embrace._

Ren started up the steps leading further up the prison walls. She glanced down for a moment at the several stories digging deeper into the pit.

"You! Stop!" Ren ran up the stairs, her feet pattering against the metal, until she had made it to the top. The pipe was quite a distance from the railing, protruding from the concrete walls that made the pit itself. A small ledge trailed across the edge of the wall from the railing to just under the pipe and around the prison.

"Stop!" The man was close now, not far up the stairs. Ren swung her legs over the railing and stood her tippy toes on the edge of the concrete it clung to. She gripped firmly onto the railing, licking her lips and looking over her shoulder at the ledge. It wouldn't be a far jump, she could do it, right? She looked back up and her eyes met bright blue irises, her body involuntarily shivered. His hand grabbed her shoulder and she froze.

 _"No!" The girl gripped onto her father's shoulder as he buried the knife deep into her abdomen. "Daddy stop!" She squealed out, her voice cracking as the pain increased. He pushed her off the blade and went in for a second incision, but paused. The blood stained blade held over his head, he stared down at her with wide bulging eyes. The eyes that would haunt her for years to come. His body fell limp to the side and behind him stood Ra's Al Ghul. A katana in one hand, while he gazed blankly down at Ren._

The man was on the ground, holding his stomach, where she had placed a firm jab.

 _"I love you, Talia." Ren said softly, gripping onto her sister with ferocity, tears stinging her eyes. Talia petted her hair with one hand and her back with the other, whispering sweet things into her ears._

 _"I love you too." Ren pulled away and smiled at Talia._

 _"I respect you so much. I aspire to be as strong and independent as you one day." Talia brushed a strand of Ren's hair behind her ear._

 _"You already are."_

 _"Talia." Bane called, he stood not so far behind Talia, a duffle bag hanging from his shoulder. The snow was heavy, his boots imprinting a smooth pattern over the thick sheet. "It is time." Talia nodded over her shoulder and then looked back to Ren._

 _"Come with me, Ren. I know I would never be as strong without you at my side." Ren contemplated, she looked behind her at Ra's, who was waiting expectantly. At the temple. At the League of Shadows. Then her gaze went back to Talia._

 _"I have a purpose here. I don't know where else I would find it."_

 _"With Bane and me. We will protect you, sister." Ren pulled away from Talia's sisterly embrace. Talia and her were like sisters. Friends. Companions. Bound by a blood they had never known was there, but had always felt it._

 _"Yes." Ren muttered under her breath, unable to meet Talia's eyes. "I will go with you."_

Jump.

 _"Master, why have you given me these?" Ren held up the dual katanas, she treated them so fragile like. The weight barely settling over her fingers, she was afraid she would break them. Ren cleared her throat. "Talia deserves them more than me."_

 _"No. You will need them more than Talia. You will need them more than me." Ren held them out again, too afraid to understand what he was saying. Too afraid._

 _"The leader shall carry these blades and that title does not fall unto me. It falls unto Talia."_

 _"Ren..." Ren raised her head, finally meeting his hard eyes. "Take the fucking blades." He said it so calmly, never once in her life had she heard him say a bad word, but it was comfortable. It seemed so out of his character. But not. She agreed to keep the blades._

Ren's nimble fingers gripped onto the edge of the ledge, her arms hanging lankly.

"Someone stop her!" The man yelled to the lower levels of the pit, but it was useless. Her teeth clenched as her body weighed on the muscles of her arms, which began to grow sore as she slid gradually closer to the pipe above. Her cheeks grew in size as she inhaled a large gust of air, she winced, one arm letting go.

"Ahhhhh!" Her eyes slammed shut, her arm swinging from side to side at her hip. Her yelp emanated down the pit, prisoners began to gather around the bottom level staring up and shouting at her in some unknown language. She brought her limp hand up and grabbed the ledge more firmly again, so close to the pipe. She grunted, sliding over further, her eyes grabbed the pipe that was just about a foot away and a foot above the ledge.

 _"Bane... I love you." Ren said to herself as she stared into the mirror, but she wouldn't do it. She couldn't. Not to Talia. "I love you so much. More than I should." She covered her face with her hands. Ashamed. Blank. Nothing. Pathetic._

"Nothing." Ren closed her eyes in pain and shook her head, she looked back up to the ledge. "He means nothing to me." She hurled her body up and grabbed the gruff edge of the pipe, her palms bleeding with indents left by the sharp edges of the concrete ledge. She pulled herself up, the grime that slid down from the pipe daily came slopping over her forehead, leaving behind a dirty trail of whatever substance it was. It smelled terrible and stung her nose as it dripped down her oily hair and soaked into her scalp. She hulled her entire arm over the edge of the pipe and grumbled something incoherent as she pulled herself up into the pipe. The pipe was sufficient for her slim body type, but not quite roomy enough to provide air. The slop that resided there from weeks and weeks of mistreatment was the greater stench. The men were still chanting, Ren managed to lift her body horizontally into the pipe, realizing that the pipe made an incline. Weeks of sludge sitting there at the center of it; feces, grunge, rotten food. Ren nearly puked at the sight and smell of it all, the pipe was dark, no light from the other end.

She took a shaky deep breath and without hesitation, she did not look back. She crawled on her forearms up the incline of the pipe, struggling with her strength to keep from sliding back down and falling to her death. She shuffled up against the sludge, feeling unidentifiable objects and moist substances against her entire body. The darkness kept her silent, it kept her focused; the stench and the feel of the muck was all it took to help her become more confident. Her breathing was growing shallow, the further she went up the harder it was for her to inhale air of any sort.

 _Pathetic._

She yelled as loud as she could, muscles aching, body forcing itself to slide back down. She pushed harder, farther up the scratchy, metal incline. Her lips pulling as much air as she could find, more dirty slop came tumbling down the pipe. It hit her face and slid down her spine, her body was covered in it from neck down. She ground her nails deep into the bottoms of the pipe, pulling, fighting, screaming.

Her hand reached out and felt nothing, but slime. Her body was beginning to give up, but her mind would not allow it. She crawled as fast as she could, the darkness was only increasing in intensity the farther she went. Minutes turned to hours.

 _"Ow!" Ren shouted as a stick hit her stomach, she rubbed the now sensitive area and looked frantically around. Darkness. "Master, is this really necessary?" Her legs were swept out from under her and she fell onto her bottom, she rolled away and a loud smacking sound came from her previous position, the stick had hit the wood. "Can you not try to kill me, Master."_

 _"You have to learn to accept the darkness, Ren." Ra's' voice sounded almost amused, taunting her through the nothingness. "Otherwise you won't be able to accept anything." Ren groaned when she picked herself up onto her feet._

 _"Why aren't you doing this to Talia?"_

 _"Talia isn't afraid of the dark, is she?"_

 _"No, master." Ren bit her bottom lip and squeezed her eyes shut. "She isn't."_

 _Pathetic..._

Ren hissed, reaching an arm out, she froze when she felt something hard out in front of her, a metal panel of sorts, blocking her from the rest of the pipe. Her breath was heavy, echoing through the pipe, which provided little space. She pushed forward and it moved upward, almost like a shutter, light came beaming through. She could feel musky, human air hit her skin. She slid up and out of the opening, the pipe dropped down into a pit of mud about an inch deep. The sun was beating hard onto her skin, burning her past the flaking sludge crusted on her skin. Her hair was black and cluttered with clumps of feces and wet dirt. She stood up shakily, eyes focusing on the hot sun and the desert that was laid out before her. She took one step forward and collapsed. Falling into an abyss. Falling and falling. Her mind lost. Her body dead. She felt nothing. _Pathetic_.


	15. HIDE

**So basically, Ren had passed out and Bruce had just escaped the pit after she had escaped. He thought she would be useful so he brought her along with him to Gotham and this is where they are. Plus, I added a little surprise at the end. I hope you all like it because I am not sure how I feel about it yet. I am testing the waters with stuff. :) Enjoy.**

 **Chapter 15: Hide**

Ren woke up with a shutter, her eyes fluttering in a panic and her mind wondering why the sun hadn't caught her yet. She looked around, she was on a private plane, the sun's rays obstructed by the curtains that covered each individual window. Through the shade she squinted her eyes and she could make out the faint figure of a man sitting across from her in her blurry vision. She groaned audibly and placed a hand on her throbbing forehead, her cheeks burned with a hint of the desert. The shade of the plane was much needed and very satisfying.

"Where am I?" She gasped out, her throat dry and her lips cracked and charred.

"I don't know how you will react if I tell you that." Bruce Wayne. She would never forget that charming, scratchy voice, no one would. She blinked a few times, forcing herself to sit up and white covers pooled around her waist revealing bare skin to the cool air of the plane. She looked down and noticed her nudity, grabbing the covers and not so quickly pulling them to her breasts.

"Where am I?" She asked much more forcefully this time, she heard a clink as glass met wood and her eyes turned to slits as she tried to make out the image of a scotch glass. Her eyes adjusting slowly to the dimness of the plane, she rose one hand up to touch the inner walls and closed her eyes.

"You are on a plane making its way to Gotham, where you will help me stop the bomb."

"If you take me back I will not help you stop the bomb, you will have to do that yourself." She opened her eyes with a few blinks and her vision cleared, she looked over her shoulder at Wayne. He was dressed in jeans and a white t-shirt, cleanly shaved, and he appeared almost as if the pit has done nothing to him. But the pit did something to everyone who had lived to experience it, if not on the surface, then on the inside.

"You are Ra's' daughter, are you not?"

"Yes..." She clutched the covers tighter to her body, her face clenching in a thoughtful manner. "Yes, I am."

"You want revenge for what I did to him." Bruce seemed so sure of himself, Ren shook her head.

"Wrong Child."

"So Bane wants revenge?" Her eyes darted to his. He thought Bane was Ra's' son, she nearly snorted, but now was no moment to be amused. Ren had already said too much, Bruce wasn't her game, he was Talia's.

"I will not tell you a thing." She laid back again and stared up at the ceiling of the plane. "I am not going back to save Gotham, I am going back to save my father's legacy, to save a friend and a foe, to save my sister."

"No. You are going to tell me why Bane put you in the pit. Was it for power?-"

"Wrong, Bane put me in the pit to save my life."

"From what?"

Too much said.

"No..." She tilted her head over at Bruce. "Wrong child." Bruce didn't reply to that, he wanted answers and Ren wasn't giving them to him. He would have to find them elsewhere.

"I need to save my city and you will help me." She didn't answer. "Or I will put you in prison with your brother when all of this is over." He growled between clenched teeth.

"If you wanted to put me away after this, you would have been better off throwing me back in the pit, Mr. Wayne. I never wanted revenge for you, I still don't. My Master wouldn't want me to stoop so low, find your avenger somewhere else."

"Well, I could use you to get on the inside. You know your brother better than I do."

"Of Course, but in the end..." Her hand under the covers traced the thick edge of the scar across her stomach. "Bane is mine."

"Are you going to kill him?"

"No. I will think about what to do with him until I get to that point." She replied, he shook his head in disgust.

"And while you are thinking about it..." He snapped a bit. "There are clothes in the bathroom for you and a shower. Take care of yourself."

* * *

It was night, moonlight gleaming through the clear surface of the windows. John let out a loud sigh as he entered his apartment, he pulled off his jacket and hung it on the rack beside the door. His footsteps followed him into the kitchen, where he flipped a switch and strode over to the refrigerator. He swung open the door and pulled out a carton of milk, he opened it and tilted it up towards his lips. He paused when no liquid came out, he pulled the carton away and stared at it.

"Shit." A snap came from the corner of his apartment, in the living room. His eyes shot up in the direction of the sound, his free hand instinctively posed over the gun at his hip. "Hey?" He said into the emptiness of his home, eyes focused on darkness.

Nothing.

He shook his head with a sigh and started over to the counter, he leaned against it; exhausted, aggravated, depressed. The city was falling apart and no one was there to save it. He had hope that the Batman would come back, now he just wasn't sure. The snap was heard again and that put him on alert, he grabbed his gun and aimed it in the direction of the living room.

"Okay, whoever is there. Get the fuck out of my house." There was a long moment of silence and once again John was about to the rule the sound out as a symptom of exhaustion. There was a frantic knock at the door, causing him to flinch, his shoulders seized up and his eyes shut tightly.

"Hey Blake let me in, it's important." Gordon's voice cracked the silence of his apartment in half, somehow releasing the tension within John and giving his home a much lighter air. His eyes opened, they flitted around the silhouettes of his furniture. The knocking increased in volume. "Open the damn door, Blake. It's an emergency." John shook his head vigorously to pull himself from whatever trance he had found himself.

"Uh... Yeah, I will be right there." John mindlessly place his gun on the counter and skidded across the apartment to the door, he flung it open, Gordon inviting himself in; he was in a flurry of movements and emotions, his body rigid as his usual nervous pace began to overturn his every muscle. Gordon placed his hands on his hips just beneath his grey coat, he looked around the apartment as he breathlessly stalked back and forth. John remained silent, his eyes wandering off to the dark corner of the living room. Gordon finally stopped walking back and forth, he took a deep breath and glanced over at John.

"You alright, kid?"

"I'm fine..." He nodded his head, choosing to keep his eyes in any direction away from Gordon. His voice was not at all truthful to both the Commissioner and himself. He finally lifted his gaze to Jim, nibbling on his bottom lip. "What is up?"

"They are moving the bomb. We need to go quick."

"Why are they moving it at this time?"

"That's what we are trying to find out."

"Alright, I'll meet you downstairs." John hesitantly responded, Gordon nodded his head.

"Be quick." He requested before exiting the apartment, John didn't turn around. He heard a click that signaled the cocking of a gun and slowly rose his hands up.

"Who-"

"Turn around." The voice was so familiar to John, it clouded his dreams despite how much he wish it didn't. He turned around, his dark brown eyes meeting the Ocean blue that lied within her own. He cleared his throat and tilted his chin up, she was pointing the gun at him. Her strict expression unwavering and a sense of rage puddling around her vessel.

Ren was dressed with a dark palette, that of which would describe her as a whole; a long sleeved skin-tight shirt, black leggings that tucked into grey fur boots, a scar sat around her neck, it was thick, but hung loosely. She was dressed for the now more colder chill that had swept over Gotham in her absence.

"You are supposed to be dead." She remained unfazed and shook her head.

"I was..." She lowered the gun and flipped in her grasp, holding it out to him. "But not anymore and neither is your Batman." She averted her gaze to the floor, John took a deep breath and shakily grabbed the gun from her hand, he refused to show any fear in his expression.

"What are you doing here?"

"I am not on your side..." She held her hand out this time and forced herself to look into his eyes. "But I am not against it either and I came to find out that despite that fact, you will remain with me." John looked down at her hand, he sucked his bottom lip into his mouth and cautiously brought his hand up to shake hers. As quickly as their hands had met, they had dropped the handshake.

"Don't tell anyone that I am here. I can't risk Bane finding out before I want him to."

"What happened to you?" Ren closed her eyes and breathed in through her nose.

"I don't want to talk about it. That story will be for another day."

"How did you get in then?" Ren's lips slightly quirked up and she placed her hand on John's shoulder.

"That story will also be for another day." He licked his lips and she turned her attention to the window that lead to the fire escape. "I came to ask something of you as well. I need you to give this..." She reached into the pocket of her leggings and pulled out a thin folded piece of paper. "To Commissioner Gordon, from outsiders, they will help him." John slipped from the note from between her fingers and pushed it into the pocket of his pants.

"And what about you, where are you going?"

"I have to go and retrieve some things that were taken from me, but I will be back." She reassured, catching for some odd reason a hint of dread in the young detective's voice. She turned to go towards the window, her hand slipping from his shoulder, but John snatched her wrist to stop her.

"And what if I need you? Where will you be?"

"When you need me, I will know and I will find you." She replied in barely a whisper, her eyes looking up into his. He took a chance and closed the distance between his lips and her own. As soon as his lips touched hers, she jerked away, wide eyed and confused, staring back at him with furrowed eyebrows.

"W-What-" She looked away and reached a hand up to touch her lips absently. His kiss was warm, it sent a jolt straight through her, it scared her. She had never kissed someone before and before this, she had always wished she could kiss Bane. Whether it be on his marred skin or on the metal intricacies of his mask. Now she realized that she didn't need Bane to kiss anymore, she didn't need him to hold her, or touch her. There were plenty of other things in life to cherish; her time in the pit had taught her that, her time getting into Gotham with Wayne and more importantly, this moment. But she had one problem, one dilemma. She didn't love John, she loved Bane. She hardly even knew John and here he was, kissing her.

Her eyes looked back up into John's, she felt her breath catch at the longing in his eyes. It could have possibly been from the absence of a female counterpart, but it could have also been true. What truth? She didn't know, Ren was too naive in the matters of the heart to determine this, so she would wait to worry about it another time.

"I have to go." She whispered, John nodded. She went back to making her way towards the window, she opened it and looked out to be sure that it was clear. She looked over her shoulder at John, who was watching her intently.

"Be safe." She muttered as she jumped out, starting her way down the fire escape. John was frozen, he didn't know what to think; was he lusting after a fugitive or falling for one. He hardly knew the woman, but something pulled him towards her, she didn't know what. All understood was that he didn't know why he kissed her, but he wanted to do it again.


	16. SEEK

**So this is what we all have been waiting for! I had started typing this chapter right after I had finished the last (the fresh fish of writing) and I am so happy how it turned out. I really hope you guys like it. I have been saving it as yet another surprise, or maybe just a shocker.** **I am also glad that the twist in the last chapter was a good one, but this is still a Bane/OC fiction. I have a note at the end, once you are done reading the chapter. **

**Enjoy this long chapter! :)**

 **Chapter 16: Seek**

Ren had succumbed to the idea that there were three stages of life, three stages that she would never know; the stage of happiness, the stage of love, the stage of 'saying goodbye'. In that exact order she would wonder what life would be like if she experienced at least one of these stages. The stage of happiness; her mother actually caring about her, her real father kissing her on the cheek, her faulty siblings playing hide and seek with her. The stage of love; finding a man that loves her, cares for her, mates with her, bonds with her, finding Bane. The stage of 'saying goodbye'; holding them all tight, all the happy memories she would leave behind, all of her children who would mourn her upon her death bed. She would never know these stages, even if she wished she could experience one. No one can experience happiness without love and no one can 'say goodbye' without happiness and love to say goodbye to.

She knew she would never die saying goodbye, she would die lonely and young. If not young, then lonely and old. But she felt day by day that it would be in youth, her death would come terrible and slow. She knew it. She felt it as she peered over the edge of the building at the terrace that connected to Wayne Industries. She knew it when the crisp wind of Gotham's skyline had gone cold, it had gone right through her. She knew.

The one thing about knowing was that it was dangerous. She pulled the scarf around her neck up over her head as a hood and then her nose to shield it from the chills of frost. She hung skillfully over the edge of the building she had found herself upon and swung down the side of Wayne Industries across the metal poles that surrounded the edge of the building. The wind hit her in heavy wisps, nearly parting her from the pole and sending her hundreds and hundreds of feet to her death. Her legs limply moved back and forth as she used her upper body strength to bring her from pole to pole. When the pole ran out she was a few feet above the terrace, the light had one out and the penthouse seemed vacant, but she wouldn't allow her assumptions to cloud her decisions. She figured for a moment of tonight was the night she would die. So be it.

She dropped from the last pole and came free falling down towards the concrete ground of the balcony. She hit the ground with a light thud; her head held up tightly, chin to chest, to avoid a head injury as her back took the overall grunt of the fall. She took a deep breath and groaned as her aching limbs cracked in various places upon her rising from the concrete ground.

She stood up completely and managed a slow step to the guard rails of the out look. She paused for a moment to embrace the heart of Gotham: not yet a fallen city, but soon to be one. She rose a hand up to gently tug at the scarf and it slipped down from around her nose, bundling at her neck again. The half portion of the scarf still serving her head as a hood. The cold air pressed against her narrow lips and her bright eyes sparkled in the moonlight. The lights of the city were gone, no more electricity, but it's beauty still remained. How something so broken could be so beautiful, Ren would never know. Moments like these proved to her that life was so much more, but she had other things to worry about.

She took a deep breath and then looked over her shoulder at the sliding glass doors of the penthouse. No lights were on and it wouldn't be a surprise if the entire floor was vacant, mostly because Bane didn't sleep that much and bomb time was closing in. Things needed to be done. Her boots patterned against the hard surface of the terrace as she came closer to the door. She wouldn't expect Bane to keep it open, but it wouldn't hurt to try. However, when Ren was here not once did they take a chance to look out on the terrace Bane had his own view in the office. Her hands flattened against the window of the door and she pushed, her eyes widened for a split second as the door made a sifting noise, cracking open with a pop. She silently pushed it to her right, opening the door just enough to maneuver her thin body between the frame and the glass itself.

The entire penthouse was filled with shadows and darkness; the living room was vacant and across from it sat the frozen elevator. Nothing had changed within the month and a half of her absence. Everything was clean as if it did not need her to clean it, everything was still and silent. She felt an urge to mediate in this room, considering it had always been her favorite place do so, but she had an objective. She knew that those blades would surely be around here somewhere, not in her room, but just maybe they could be in Bane's. She had heard from an inside source that the blades would be found in this penthouse, who was she to trust anyone other than Barsad to give her the facts. He respected her.

She stepped forward and flinched when the floorboards creaked beneath her boots. She looked around for any signs of danger before venturing forward towards Bane's room. If he was here he would have known that someone was invading the penthouse and the result would be anything but pretty. Her breath hitched as the walls of the hall closed in on her, she closed her eyes and attempted to gather herself. Her feet had a mind of their own, dragging her down further and further to the door at the end of the hallway. The master bedroom, the bedroom that belonged to Bane.

If the blades weren't in there, she would know. Bane hardly kept anything in his room, but a bed and a duffle bag of clothing. The penthouse had been swept out after Wayne had decided to take refuge in his manor. This place was chosen specifically as a base since it was the not only the property of Bruce Wayne, their enemy, but it wasn't far at all from the courthouse. It was also a direct source from which they retrieved Wayne's technology, the perfect place to reside while conquering a city.

She shakily reached a hand out and turned the metal knob of the door, from then on it was as if nothing seemed to be tangible around her. Her entire mind was much more subject to the location of the blades and she had found them. Everything was a blur up until she had herself sitting directly in front of the case that held those prized weapons. She was kneeling before their blade encasement, cherishing their fine design and strong steel.

She lifted them both up in their sheath and pulled them onto her torso, hanging from her back. She stood and paused as she was about to turn around.

"Does it satisfy you that you have gotten what you wanted?" Ren gulped, the metallic voice emanating from the body behind her sent shivers down her spine. "I don't respect thieves, but that doesn't mean I cannot be impressed. I salute you for your valiant effort in stealing what takes refuge in my residence." She felt his large hand engulfed her left shoulder and her body reacted immediately to the warmth that it projected. "Now it is time to put it back..." His mask released his voice with a scratchy vibe. "Then I will kill you." She said nothing, her voice still stuck between the thumping of her heart and the burning in her lunges. She pulled the leather strap of the sheath over her head and away from her torso, allowing it to drop into the case of its previous place. "Face me. I want to see your face when I kill you." Bane demanded in a shallow voice, Ren turned her head to barely made out his form over her shoulder, then she turned her entire body, refusing to meet his gaze.

He was shirtless, muscles covered in faded cuts and newly acquired bruises that with short periods of time she had been given, she remembered. Perhaps he had been sleeping and Ren was too caught up in her success to notice he was in the room. As said before Bane was a very light sleeper. Maybe he wasn't sleeping, maybe he was pondering. He was adorning a thicker pair of cargo pants, knee pads attached to the midsection of the pant legs. They tucked into his signature black boots that shone so clearly one could see their own reflection. Ren could see her reflection, she could see her fear. She didn't know what she was afraid of. He wouldn't kill her, if he had wanted her dead he would have done it before when he had the chance. His other hand was lifted to gently collect her chin and he tiled her head up to get a better look at the intruder. He had known before the it was a woman, the posture and stature was utterly feminine, but her features he was not expecting.

His eyes widened, but only slightly; the first time she would ever see a look of consternation shadowing Bane's eyebrows and dusting his lashes. It wasn't the type of expression that signaled he was angry, his eyebrows would furrow if he was angry and the muscles in his neck would tighten. He was confused, not angry, that was the expression she witnessed.

His hands were clad with fabric that wrapped his knuckles, she immediately recognized them. He must had gotten into a fight recently, or he must have interrogated someone in a blind rage. He hit so hard that sometimes his knuckles would bleed, there couldn't be any other reasons for him to wrap his knuckles in black cloth that Ren could think of. She didn't care who he had fought against, or who he had tortured to such an extent that his knuckles would drip Crimson. All she cared about at the moment was the feel of his fingers as they drifted up from her chin and over her cheek, the skin leaving hot invisible markings in their wake. She wished he could paint her entire body in that invisible ink. If only. She closed her eyes and leaned into his touch, one hand reaching up to cup his own as his palm pressed against her frigid cheek.

"Stupid girl." He muttered, but the mask made it nearly inaudible and difficult to uncover the very words. Ren understood well enough her eyes flashed open, daggers shooting from the crystal orbs.

"I am a woman, not a girl..." She replied in a whisper, her voice was soft and angelic, almost as calmly as her voice had been when she was with him before all of this. She missed that, she missed the time before Talia had turned him against her. Oh how she would crave to see his water dropped skin as he walked about the penthouse in a mere towel. She missed being able to relax with him and sometimes she missed just standing beside him, there was enough pride given alone when standing respectfully at the side of the city's most dangerous enemy. "I have always been a woman."

"I know." His thumb caressed gently against her lips, his hand so large it could have covered her entire face, but he opted for just her cheek. "Just as you are a dream." A single tear drifted down from his left eye, but his eyes hardened at the realization that his emotions had gotten the best of him. He was obviously better trained then Ren in the matters of the heart. He tore his hand away and turned his back to her, more scars from his past visible for her to see. His boots pounding against the wood as he exited the room and down the hall, leaving her to her thoughts.

She wondered why he hadn't apprehended her, why after his statement he appeared to care less that she was standing directly at the edge of his room. She was alive, she had escaped the Pit and he seemed to not bat an eye. She told herself she would get the blades later, on her way out. The idea of leaving now and so suddenly after what had just occurred, did not come easy to her mind. She couldn't leave after that, she had so many questions that needed answers. The sound of her heated footsteps as she followed after him did not go amiss. She entered the kitchen area beside the living room, where he was leaning against the counter and staring blankly into the open space of furniture across the penthouse.

"Bane..." She breathed out, using what strength she could find within herself to get what he really needed. Not the blades, but him. "I can't take this anymore..." She stepped up to stand beside him, placing a hand flat against the marble countertop, the other hand on his bare back. "I love you more than I should and I knew the consequences years ago just as I know them now." He doesn't move, the muscles beneath her hand clenching and unclenching in quick recession. She pulled her hand away, bringing the other up from the counter top and she looked down at them. "I hate myself for wanting to be with you, for being willing enough to die for you when I know you wouldn't do the same for me." Her hands clenched into fists and her face contorted, tears spilling over her cheeks. "I use to never be jealous of Talia..." At the name, Bane lifted his head up and tilted his head for his ear to face in Ren's direction. "I use to have all that I needed..." The darkness causing a tear to look bloody as it slipped from her right eye and traveled down the hill of her cheek. "But then I realized there was so much more. One thing that I was missing that she had and I could never know, but now that I know it. I don't want it anymore." She looks up at him and nibbles on her bottom lip. "You will never love me back, it was always Talia." She wanted-no needed to get that off her chest.

"Get out of my head." He replied not so calmly, his fists clenching on top of the label surface and his back straightening as he stood to his full height.

"I am no dream, or nightmare, I am here Bane. I am not a burden to you."

"Yes, you are." He turned around to face her. "A burden, a dream, not a nightmare, but a regret that I will always carry. You will be safe there and I have done what I can to keep you alive. Get out of my head." He turned his back to her again. He truly thought she was a figment of his imagination, Bane believed that she was part of his brain, a distant memory. She would not prove to him otherwise because perhaps she was nothing more than a burden and a dream to him. She stepped closer with trembling hands and grabbed his hand up from the counter, his head turned to watch as she brought his hand up to her lips.

"Then I will go and you won't ever see me again." She said against his skin, her eyes fluttering shut in her first real experience of bliss. Her lips pressed against his skin so softly and so gentle. Her eyes opened and she was met with the sight of an enraged Bane, his hand unmoving.

"You really are a stupid woman..." His voice increased in volume. "You. Are. Here." Each word Bane stepped forward, Ren stepped back. The hand she held flipping around to grab her wrist and pull her roughly to him. "What do you think you are doing here?!" His voice escalated in a matter of seconds Ren was not afraid, but startled.

"I came to get back what is rightfully mine." Her voice wavered slightly, almost in a trembling fashion.

"They belong to Talia." He hissed, his grip intensifying. She mirrored the furrow of his eyebrows and fiercely bit into her bottom lip, nearly drawing blood.

"They belong to me and you know it!" She yelled back, Bane's breathing was heavier the mask amplifying its frequency throughout the silent penthouse. "Talia has poisoned you Bane, she has turned you against me and all of your fellow members. I would never have done a thing to betray you before this. I came back to save the League of Shadows, Talia is destroying it and I can't let that happen." Bane released her hand. "Whether he is my father or my master, his memory will not die like this." She ripped herself from him, taking a steady step away from him. Looking him up and down, she both mentally and physically prepared herself for a fight with Bane.

"You are just as insolent and naive as your father said you were. I put you in the pit to save-"

"If by saving me you mean putting me through hell, then you did a wonderful job, Bane." She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at him, Bane did not break the contact.

"You should have stayed in the Pit, even after escaping I would have expected you of all to be smarted than this." His voice filled with apprehension, Ren felt shame bubble in her inners, he was talking to her as an adult would when admonishing a child.

"I..." She looked down and collected herself, before meeting his gaze yet again. "You left me with too many things unanswered." He stood up taller, his hands straight at his sides in fists.

"You might not like the words you find, Ren. I know the great Ra's Al Ghul had taught you better than to go searching for things that don't meddle with your business." Bane leaned back slightly and shook his head. "He would be ashamed." If it wasn't the answers she'd be getting those words alone hit her in the heart like a knife, she would never know Bane as a lover, she would never be loved by him as Talia was. But what surprised her was how the words had emanated from his darker mask, they were hardly believable. Bane had never said a word that he didn't trust himself.

"You know that is not true. Ra's would rather be here and risk my life, then have me sit in a dark and dingy cell watching it all go to waste."

"Do you not understand that I had saved you?" He stepped closer and she was about to step back, but his hands roughly grabbed her shoulders and held her place. "This city will explode and everything in it will die, including you. You don't deserve to die Ren, you were never like Talia and me." His eyes are sympathetic, compassionate, things she use to never see in those eyes.

"Bane..." His hands moved up to cup both sides of her head, he nodded for her to continue. "Have you ever wondered if maybe we are on the wrong side? If we were always on the wrong side?" He closed his eyes with a sigh and turned his head away, thumbs caressing the edges of her cheek bones.

"I am on the wrong side, but you can be on the other. You can live, Ren and have everything that Talia and I won't." Ren shook her head in his hands and rose her own hand up to cup under his chin. He moved his head to open his eyes and look at her again.

"We both knew that as soon as we became Shadows our lives would never carry such happiness. Talia has gone too far this time, but there is still good in her. I can save us, we can stop this." Bane pulled his hands away, they glided from her head. She felt like falling into his arms as soon as the heat of his palms was gone. She felt like dying when the Bane she had just met, blurred away into the harsh man she had always known.

"Go.." He gestured towards the sliding glass door and cocked his head. "Before I am forced to do what I have tried not to do in the past."

"You won't kill me." She spat. "If you had wanted me dead, you would have done it already." It was irreversible, Talia had taken him from her too soon and Ren was too late. She didn't need her answers, they didn't matter. What mattered was her plan, she wouldn't let Talia take over her life. The League of Shadows would not fall like this.

"Thank you." She said randomly, Bane's eyebrows furrowed. It was silent for a short moment as they stared at one another, until Bane broke the silence.

"For what?"

"The Pit has taught me many things, it has made me stronger, it has showed me who I was then and who I am now." She stepped closer to Bane a bit more hesitant to do so, she wasn't sure what she was going to do, but she needed to do something. "But the thing I needed the most was for you to stay by my side. The man that I trusted and loved, the man that I still love and still trust with my life." She shakily rose her hands up to press her palms against his pectorals, he froze, but made no move to stop her. "You went with Talia and I have somehow found the strength to forgive you for that." She leaned up on the toes of her boots towards him, pressing her lips against the metal mask for a split second. She dropped away, the cold of his mask still residing over the plush skin. "But I can't do this anymore, I can't keep hiding for you, for myself and I can't keep running from what I don't understand, or know." She traced her hands down his strong biceps, over the ridges of scars and the bumps of bulging veins. She sighed, she would like to kiss them all and this moment would have been the perfect time to do it, but she wasn't brave enough. He had let her do so much, that would be something she believed he wouldn't allow. "I love you, but you don't love me." She leaned forward and pressed one last kiss to his chest bone. "So this is goodbye." The only stage of 'saying goodbye', without the happiness and with all the love.

"Is that all. I would have expected you to force the answers to your questions from my mind before you said such a thing." He heaved out, his voice was light and the anger had suddenly vanished, his breath having gone faster when her flesh touched his. She looked up into his eyes and shook her head.

"I don't need your answers if you don't think I deserve them. They didn't matter to me as much as I thought they did. You have done enough to me... And for me." She pulled away and made her way back into Bane's room. Bane stood there and did not move, his eyes squinted in deep thought. A minute later she came back, the leather strap of the sheath to the blades hung over her shoulder. Batman was supposed to fly his Batwing under the terrace, but he was yet to arrive, so she went for the elevator.

"It was an honor being at your side." She managed to say as she met the floorboards in front of Bane. His arm came out and wrapped around her waist, clashing her yet again into his chest.

The other hand that wasn't holding her mid back down against his body rose up and sifted the hood from her head, revealing beautiful locks of brown hair. He pressed his forehead against hers and closed his eyes, she wrapped her arms around his neck and did the same. She could live with this... For just a moment.

 **Okay so... yeah. A lot has happened here I am not sure if it really fits, but that is why I am going to ask you guys how you feel. Obviously the Next chapter was supposed to be some super detailed smut time and I was kind of excited, but then I started typing and realized that it didn't seem right. I want Bane and Ren to be together, but I felt like it would be so out of Bane's character to have sex with anyone else except for Talia. Just because Bane has been with her for so long and all. Even if he has known that Ren loves him, that doesn't really mean much (And I know how I want Bane to feel at this point in the story, but I don't know how he would really feel). And Ren has never had sex before so I was skeptical as to how she would react if Bane tried to initiate something (which I don't know if he would or not), because she definitely wants it (as earlier chapters had proven), who wouldn't with Bane?**

 **So here is the question (I am probably really annoying), should Ren and Bane have sex? At all? Like this is the only chance they will have guys, should they do it? Should they?**

 **Sorry... I need to get a life. lol. Anyways, tell me what you think.**

 **P.S. My boyfriend says they should, but he doesn't know what he is even talking about so I won't count his opinion... Should they?**


	17. LOVE

**Here is the deal, I have written smut in the past, but I don't consider myself that good. So please don't get upset with me if this is crappy. I wanted it to be both slow and passionate and rough because I figured that would most suit Bane and Ren's relationship. I also didn't want it to be just about sex because in truth it is about so much more. I hope you guys like it :)**

 **It is pretty long this chapter.**

 **Chapter 17: Love**

Ren was afraid, or at least she felt something very akin to fear. She didn't know what else to do other than hold him, her arms wrapped around his neck as she clung to him. She had never done this before, she had never been so close to a man like this. She whimpered when his warm hands crept beneath the fabric of her long sleeved shirt. They held her waist and were hesitant to do anything more, she assumed it was because of her lack of action. She nibbled on her bottom lip and pulled her chin back from his shoulder to stare up into his eyes.

"I don't know what to do." Her eyes glazed over his trimmed torso as her hands unwound from his neck and she breathlessly ran them over the contours of it. "What do you want me to do?" She breathed, her voice sounding low and aroused, in a way she had never heard herself sound before. Bane brought a hand around from the skin of her hip, back to the smooth skin of her lower back. He looked into her eyes, his eyes much darker than they had ever been and the shadows of the night reflecting upon a portion of his face. Her lips parted and her chest heaved at how magnificent he looked.

"What do you want to do to me, Ren?" Ren had nearly fainted, his lips behind the mask must had been enhanced by a thousand. She could hear a deep heavy promise beneath those words and very gradually his grip on her had tightened.

"I want to..." She took a deep breath. "U-Um..." Trembling fingers traced over the thick chest bone protruding beneath his neck. "I want to kiss all of you." She whispered. He remained still with strict eyes watching as she leaned forward, not far considering they were so close, pressing gentle lips yet again into the crease of his neck. Her body shook with some sort of heat, that familiar heat that use to be specifically oriented at her most private area.

His arms encircled her, hands wrapped under her thighs, he lifted her up and wrapped her legs around his waist. She gasped, her fingernails digging into his biceps hard enough to draw blood. She couldn't acknowledge where they were until he had sat her upon the countertop of the kitchen. The same countertop that they had made meals on in the past, whenever the mood had struck them. She pulled away, the hisses of sharp breathes coming from the vent of metal on his face.

She licked her lips to moisten them, surprised when his hands continued their exploration much more forcefully this time. He tugged at the bottom of her shirt and she incredulously pulled it over her head, the scarf bundling up within it as it was tossed to the side. She crossed her arms over her stomach, beneath the sports bra and looked away with blushed cheeks. She closed her eyes and waited for humiliation, instead she felt the like fabric of Bane's palms pressing against her shoulders.

"You are beautiful." He muttered, she looked up at him with wide eyes as a memory came thundering into her mind. She swam through it, relaxed within it, she would never forget that memory.

 _...your beautiful intelligence..._

His hands gently pulling away her own, placing them on his chest. His eyes investigated, calloused fingers caressing the thick scar that resided on her abdomen. He had seen it before, but he had never touched it. No one had ever touched her scar besides herself and Ra's, who was the one who had sewn it and taken care of her after the attack. She forced herself not to think of it, but the scar always brought back memories. It reminded her that she could never bear children, that she could never have a normal life. She shakily brought one hand up from his chest to grab his wrist, to silently pull his hand away. What should have been said wasn't and Bane didn't question her actions. He instead placed his hand in her hip again and caressed his thumb against her skin, calming her.

Her entire body was on fire, his eyes were everywhere and she was still so unsure of what to do. But she needed to something, it was itching at her... Burning inside. She wrapped her arms around his neck tightly again and pressed her chest to his. She then did what she thought was correct, she used her mouth to engulf a portion of skin between his shoulder and neck, she sucked gently at it. Anticipating that hopefully what she was doing was similar to how a French kiss would go.

One of Bane's hands cupped the back of her head and an barely audible groan escaped his respirator. She removed her mouth and pressed soft kisses up the slope of his neck, licking and nibbling where she felt he liked it. His breath was ragged, blocking out any noise she possibly could have heard. Her legs wrapped tighter around his waist, she melted at her center when she felt a bump rub against her. She stopped kissing and whimpered in his ear, then suddenly the pace increased tenfold. Bane let out a growl and slid his hands down her body to take her fur boots off one by one. She felt some odd urgency within her and scooted upwards to slid off her leggings.

His hands grabbed her own and brought them to his belt, she fumbled with it for a moment, but managed to pull it from around his waist. It fell to the side with an itchy cling on the marble counter, but the noise didn't register to them. His hands grabbed at her milky thighs, caressing and groping, pulling her closer so her fingers could in ally slip the button of his cargo pants from its slit.

He was so swift, hands grabbing her breasts and it was so unexpected her back arched into him. She held back a noise that was meant to pull from her throughly, embarrassed that she was even about to make such a sound. But Bane paused in his actions and grabbed her jaw rather ferociously to make her face him.

"I want to hear it all, understood?" He demanded, she nodded her head. He did not notice and went back to her touching her, one hand skillfully pulling the black sports bra over the slope of her breasts and to the side. She wasn't expecting this, she wasn't expecting any of this, but she wanted it to happen so back that the idea didn't matter anymore. Just the feel of his hard body, rough against her.

Her hands darted over his muscles again and she kept her promise, pressing her lips to any patch of skin that she could find and that was everywhere. His fingers pinched her nipple and squeaked, jumping away, but being pulled back by that hand at her back. She bit her bottom lip and placed her chin upon his shoulder, feeling her hands up the many scars that littered his back. Despite the cold, chilly air of the penthouse there was droplets of sweat that came tumbling down the cove of his back.

He teased at her nipple again, this time with his thumb at that same noise came running out her mouth before she could halt it. She moaned loud and long, the embarrassment heating up her cheeks. As her mouth open she found him pulling her away, his thumb stuffing itself into her mouth before she could protest. He brought it back to her nipple, the cool air bringing a subtle breeze over the hardening nub as he smeared her saliva there.

He shoved his mask into the crease of her neck, goosebumps collected beneath the thin sheen of sweat over her skin. While one hand continued working at her nipple the other groped her ass, hard. She mewled out, fingernails unconsciously digging into the pale skin of his back. Red marks accompanied the scars as her nails went and Bane hissed aloud, a few word leaving the mask, but none she could find coherent.

He pulled her lower half against him again and her panties became wetter as he ground between her thighs. Her mouth opened and she moaned again, fingers moving across his back.

"God, I have never felt like this before."

"It's not finished yet." He huskily breathed out, she shivered and he lifted her up. His strength holding her in her posture as he carried her in the direction of his bedroom. She was harshly tossed onto the bed, given the moment to bounce once before he had climbed over her.

He pushed her legs apart and sat himself between them, boots hanging off the bed. The covers bunched up around the smooth curves of Ren's body and for comfort she moved her hands to hold him again, but he grabbed the wrists and held them down to the bed. He looked down at her, she made no struggle to break from his grasp. She closed her eyes took a deep breath, she had dreamed of being this way with him.

"You are such a sin..." He ground out as his mask grazed across the top of her breasts and paused her throat. "I have always wanted you, but I was never able to take what I wanted."

"You could have..." She took a deep breath and opened her eyes. "Taken me whenever you wanted."

"But I couldn't you see..." He rested his ear to her right breast, her heart pounding against her rib cage. "You were never mine to take, you were always something I would never have."

"I want you take me, Bane." His ear picked up from her skin and looked up at her with hard eyes, contemplating. "I have always wanted you, but I knew that you weren't mine to have. I wish you were." She added, causing her embarrassment to slowly dissipate.

"Tonight..." He released her wrists and slowly sat back onto his calves. "I am." He reached down and unzipped his pants, his didn't pull them down, sitting there on his knees waiting for her permission. She sat up on her elbows his gaze snapped to her full breasts, but he looked back up at her.

"Is it greedy to say that I don't only want you for tonight..." She crawled up and sat on her knees also, he still towered her when sitting. She bit her bottom lip and looked down at the bulge of his pants. She directed her blue eyes back up to his and he visibly gulped. "I want you forever." He didn't look away, he didn't want to.

"Then you have me." His voice came out in a sweet, low grumble and she wished she could kiss him then. Instead he pressed his forehead against her own. "Once we do this, there is no going back."

"I don't ever want to go back when I am with you." She replied, her hands rising to cup either side of his head, he grabbed her forearms and caressed his thumbs there.

"Lay Back, let me see you." He said, she laid back as he requested and he was on top of her again. She felt his hand trace her scar again, but she didn't comment about it. What surprise her was how his hand disappeared into her underwear, how his fingers ghosted over the crevice there and she held her breath. It caused her to moan again and she almost cried at how warm it had gotten between her legs. She sunk further into the covers, the single pillow of the bed sitting beside her head. She squeezed her eyes shut and turned her head away, the flush running down her neck and over her breasts. "Look at me." He ordered, but she was too afraid that he might be disappointed. She was afraid he might not like her reactions, her noises, her blushes. What he could do to her, him. The only man who can do what he wanted with her and get her in such a vulnerable position. "Ren... Look. At. Me." His voice was much more darker and she took is as a sign to listen or she would regret it. She opened her eyes slowly and looked up at him, just then realizing the salty drop running down her cheek. "Why are you crying?"

"You must be happier with Talia, she must not cry out like this." Bane grunted, she sighed. He knew what he wanted, this was a Bane, he always knew what he wanted. She wondered if he didn't know right now, if he was being contemplative about being with her.

"No, she doesn't..." The shame that Ren felt was unbelievable, but it all went away as soon as he finished. "make those sounds, not the wonderful sounds that I hear coming from your lips. Her sounds are wanton and heavy, I want to hear your soft mews and your violent screams as you cum for me. I want to hear you." She moaned as he pushed a finger under folds and found that special spot. She had never really gotten the chance to explore herself, it was always mental pleasure when she saw Bane, not physical. But now she could feel that she had been missing something for a long time. This time a cold shower or some other activity to busy herself with isn't going to put this fire out. He rubbed over that spot and her back arched as a million feelings hit her head on, she wailed. His forehead still rested against hers, a kiss between skin, his eyes wide open as he watched pleasure consume her body whole.

The build up was impossible, Bane used his other hand to toy with both of her nipples this time and she loved it.

"Bane." Her head jostled to the side, leaving her unmarred neck open to his view, he wanted to mark her, to claim her, but his mind told him he couldn't. He could surely take his mask off, but what then? Be in horrifying pain, while he made love with her. This was better.

The hand bringing attention to her nipples rose up to grab her neck and she twisted beneath him. His other hand picked up a ravenous pace and the build of pleasure for Ren was at its peak.

Bane had experienced sex many times before, mostly with Talia, but Talia had always found a way to use him for pleasure. It use to be of love and passion, but things started to change in Talia. Sometimes he wouldn't finish and she would simply discard him on the bed, saying that she was in a hurry and that she had other things to do. Bane would only place himself so low if it was with Talia and his time with Ren at his side was something he had relished in rarely. He had always known that she was in love with him, he had once ruled it off as an infatuation, but it was so much more. At the attention that she craved to give him and craved to accept from him, it had driven him nearly mad. He had tried so hard not to fuel the young woman's lust for him, but then he found that it was not lust at all. He was a man that had needs, but he had once told himself that Talia would supply them all and he couldn't betray her like that.

Then he had found out that Talia had invested her emotions in Bruce Wayne, just as much as she had given her love to him, he had nearly lost himself in rage. Talia stopped showing up shortly after Ren's absence, he hadn't seen her in weeks. Sex to him had become merely an act that carried hardly any emotion, only relief unless Talia had wanted it so. So Bane had been celibate for a whole month without anything to take his mind off of stress. He hardly ever pleasured himself because he found the idea of such a thing to be animalistic. Seeing Ren beneath him had brought a primal desire within him that he hadn't felt in a very long time, all he wanted was to have his way with her for eternity. He had never felt so passionate about something since he had first been with Talia. Bane brought Ren to the brink of her orgasm, she writhed beneath him, clutching at the wrist of the hand that held her throat. Bane felt so powerful then, her eyes closed and her mouth hung open as she screamed his name.

"BANE!" She slapped a hand over her mouth at the sound of herself and her eyes flashed open. Her chest was rising and falling, her other hand holding his shoulder. She stared up at him and noticed the edges of his eyes crease as if he was smiling. He couldn't be smiling, Bane NEVER smiled.

"For someone so quiet, you can be so loud." Her hand dropped away.

"Do you not like loud?"

"No, I enjoy it very much." She couldn't help it she began giggling. It was a natural laughter that if she had been keeping track, would be the third time she actually laughed in her entire life. Bane pulled his drenched hand up from her panties and the other from her breast, they went to his pants and suddenly the laughter had silenced. She was watching him intently as one hand reached into the opening of the zipper and searched. She could feel her breath hitch when he pulled it out, there was no way it was going to fit. She felt the need to touch it, but held herself back with a thought that it would be rude. He pumped it a few times with his hand clasped around its girth. Things suddenly weren't so funny anymore, they weren't light hearted or gentle. She didn't care how big he was, all she wanted was for him to be inside her. The thought that it might hurt didn't come to her at all and instead she reached her hands out for him in confirmation. This was what she wanted, what she needed.

He grabbed the hem of her underwear and dragged them down her legs, she shivered at the way his eyes focused on her center. She lifted her ankles as he pulled the undergarment from her legs completely and tossed them to the side. She gasped when his eyes met her own, his hands latched onto her hips and her body was adjusted downward. It was so close and he watched her reaction as he moved the head over the lining of her womanhood. He was about to press in with something of an impulse, but she felt that same feeling from before come over her, the reality of the position she was in came very quickly. She frantically placed one hand on his lower abdomen.

"S-Stop." She stuttered out, he paused and his eyes softened.

"Are you having regrets?"

"God no!" She blurted out and shook her head vigorously. "It's just that... I d-don't know." He stared at her for a long moment, it felt like forever through Ren's perspective. He nodded his head and scooted upward, his cock standing at full attention, he crawled almost completely on top of her. His forearms pressed flat against the bed, caging her within them. He plopped down beside her and laid down onto his back.

"Then we will go at your pace." She was shocked, she didn't know what to do. He was giving her what control that he had left after her orgasm, which was almost none.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Sit on me." He sharply replied, she gulped and sat up beside him. Staring at it, it was just there, if she sat on him she would have to get close to it. "Ren, it won't kill you. In fact it will do something far better." She bit her bottom lip and looked at him with apprehension, but then she remembered that she trusted him. He wouldn't hurt her.

She moved herself over to sit on his thighs, her center inches from his own private. Her eyes bulged when it twitched, she looked back up at Bane. He was getting impatient, she could see it in his eyes. She picked her thighs up and maneuvered herself above his length, her trembling hand grabbed it and Bane groaned. She positioned it at her opening and closed her eyes as she sunk herself down onto him.

It hurt for a split second and then everything felt extremely full. She placed her hands on her abdomen to keep herself stable. Bane placed a hand on her back and pushed her down into his chest, then without any warning he grabbed both cheeks of her ass and pushed her up. She wrapped her arms around his neck and let out a gasp, he pushed in again and she let out a drawn out moan.

"Fuck." She uttered, he paused in mid-thrust.

"Such filthy language shouldn't come from those lips." He stated. She nodded her head silently, anything to get him to keep going. He thrusted up all the way and she buried her teeth lightly into his throat to keep from mewing. He let out a groan, one hand leaving her ass to cup the back of her hair, his fingers weaving in through her brunette strands. "Keep Going." He encouraged, she felt her entire body rumble in pleasure and it wasn't long before confidence soon found her. It was sore, but full and right. She brought herself down against his slow thrusting, eventually sitting up and taking control of the speed. She tested the grinding up her hips and bounces to ensure that the low throbbing pain at her abdomen wouldn't get any worse. Bane's hand took her hips, she threw her head back and moaned as he lifted his hips up from the mattress, deeper within her. Her palms were pressed flatly against his pecks, her hands starting to get slippery with his sweat.

Those few droplets of perspiration that emanated from her skin, Bane had smeared across her breasts and over the edgy scar upon her belly. His hands rested there, feeling the taut muscles of year and years of training beneath the silky skin. His eyes did not veer once away from her curves, instead taking their place upon the soft plush pillows of pink that represented her lips. When his eyes went back to hers, they were closed, lashes fluttering in a dance of pleasure. Bane's hands grabbed her breasts and teased the nipples, she opened her eyes into moons and looked down at him with a dark passion. Bane's eyes shut tight and a moan from him pierced the room, the shaky uttering of his mask making it sound vulnerable. Bane had been as collected as he could be up until her sheath clenched around him and something in him snapped.

He grabbed her waist tightly enough to leave purple thumb prints there and flipped her over onto her back. She gasped, to lost in the pleasures that he had given her. Still buried inside her, he sat back on his knees and shuffled her thighs up onto his. He grabbed left ankle and placed it on top of his shoulder, staring at her with lusty eyes as he thrusted much harsher than before. She cried out, her lips parting with a whimper and her hands crumbling the sheets of the bed into fists.

"Oh Bane!" He thrusted harder and faster, the sound of her ass slapping against his still covered thighs echoed the room. He pulled out suddenly and left her empty, she sniffled as a lone tear came spiraling down her the side of her nose. Her eyes remained closed, she could make out the distinct shuffling of fabric and the thumping of boots. The bed sunk down under his weight as he found his place between her legs again.

"Open your eyes." He said, the back of his clothes knuckles caressing her chin. She opened her eyes and this time they sparkled with arousal. She grabbed the wrist of Bane's hand and yanked at the fabric that resided there. Bane remained still, her eyes not once breaking from his. She tossed the rag to the side and flipped his hand on the top side to examine his knuckles.

He entered her as the wait was becoming too arduous for his body to allow. He groaned lowly at the pit of his throat when she pressed a kiss to the bloody scab that sat at the middle of his index finger. The thrusts remained purposeful and agonizingly sedate, Bane only started to thrust faster when he felt the top of Ren's tongue brush across the very tip of his finger. She watched his reaction and found that she enjoyed it, her tongue moving over to his thumb. She engulfed her mouth over the rather large finger and sucked.

Bane grunted, tearing his hand from her mouth he placed it on her hip and began rubbing the sensitive bud that she had felt him touch before. Her hands sprung up to rest on either side of her head and lilting for him, breathing heavy enough to give him a good view of her breasts. His wet thumb toaster the tiny nub, he watched as she grunted and moaned, doing anything she could to keep from screaming. His thrusts were erratic, relentless, if she had wanted him to stop it would be too late and she did not want him to stop.

She was so close. She was so close.

She picked her torso up, her ankles sliding down his shoulders and to his surprise she merely brought herself closer to him, plopping herself down upon his bare thighs. She had recognized that split moment of emptiness as his opportunity to undress himself fully and she showed him that she was grateful for it, clenching her thighs around his strong, muscly ones. She began to bounce on him again, this time as fast as he had been doing her before. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she placed her forehead against his. She bit her bottom lip and closed her eyes, just enjoying the feel of him. While his one hand continued to massage her clit, the other was placed at her lower back, holding him against her.

"I'm about to do it again." She whispered, sucking in a rather sharp breath. It was a plea. Bane's chest vibrated with something of a growl and he lifted her hips up with his one hand and slammed her down onto him, causing her to let out a loud shrill of bliss. The sheets bunched up beneath them as he pushed her onto her back again, their forehead remained connected as did their lower bodies.

Just a little further.

Bane's free hand gripped harshly at the pillow beside her and the very sight of him, the primal sound that he made as he thrusted into her sent her flying into ecstasy. Her arms wrapped around him and she latched her teeth into his skin to muffle her cries of pleasure. She shook all over, Bane thrusting faster, harder; worried that like Talia, Ren would also deprive him of his finish.

His thrusts prolonged the elevation of her pleasure and Bane picked his body up slightly. Her arms were wrapped so tightly around his neck that she rose up with him and he finally came with a harsh thrust, the skin on skin contact relatable to a boulder falling into a pillow. He held her there, satisfied for the moment. His breath was loud and ragged behind the mask against her ear. He lowered her back down to the bed, her arms fiercely wrapped around him.

"Time to let go, Ren."

"But I don't want to let go of you, I don't want to leave. Please not tonight, let me stay with you. Just for tonight." Bane closed his eyes and sighed, he wrapped his arms under her and turned onto his side, she was pulled along with him. He tousled onto his back, her arms wrapped around his neck with such a grip that she was yanked to lay on his chest, legs handing in between his own.

"What am I going to do to you?" He muttered, eyes close as for once in a long time he attempted to find sleep. She laid a kiss upon his neck, some directly on the bite marks that she had left behind.

"Who said you had to do anything to me?" She whispered in reply, breathing in his sweaty, musk-filled scent.

"But I want to do everything to you." He snorted, almost in disbelief of himself. His hand absently caressing her mid-back, tracing a picture that he couldn't understand, he stared blankly up at the ceiling.

"I love you."

"I know." It hurt her that she would probably never hear him say it back, but the action of love-making was enough to prove that he did love her. She would like to believe that he did, possibly just as much as she did. "I know you love me." His breath nearly framing the words in a picture, the same picture he was drawing on her skin.

"I know you won't say it back because you can't, but promise me that one day you will. That you do love me. It eases my mind, being with you helps me think clearly."

"You want me to promise something like that..." He took a deep breath. "When the very likely hood of us not blowing up tomorrow is so opaque."

"If I die, at least I will know that I have this." For once in her life she was happy, she didn't want to think about tomorrow or the plan to stop Talia and the bomb. She just wanted this; this moment to pretend that there was a chance she could have a future, that she could carry a child with Bane's seed now planted inside of her, that would die old and happy and loved, that she wasn't alone, that she had him. She use to think she would never know this, that it was impossible to feel so much love for one individual, now she knew it wasn't true. She had Bane. Not Talia.

Not ever again.

And Bane said nothing until he could feel Ren's shallow breath against his chest, until he knew she was sleeping.

"I promise." It was barely audible in the dark and nearly empty room.

Bane didn't know why he hadn't said it when she was awake, he didn't know why he couldn't promise her all the things that were so abstract to him. He had realized that this was the one moment in his life that he actually was afraid of something. He wasn't afraid of loving Ren, he was afraid of what love entailed. Talia had always asked so little from him, she didn't want kids or a husband. Bane knew because he had once asked Talia to marry him, he had once wanted the things that Ren wanted, Talia declined in a rather rude manner. Love meant protection. If Bane said those three words it would hardly be a burden to do as they asked of him, but it would ruin him if something had ever happened to her. He had never felt that fear with Talia. By not saying those words he saved himself and in doing so Ren as well, he kept her safe from a monster.

That monster was him.

Bane didn't sleep that night.


	18. KILL

**It is also kind of the calm before the storm because this story is coming to a close and I am not sure if this chapter is too quick or jumbled, but I hope it is perfect for a good build up. This chapter actually is inspired by one of my favorite songs, but the remix version. The lyrics are delish and I feel like they go really well with the story. The song is:**

 **La Roux - In For the Kill (Skream Remix)**

 **Enjoy!**

 **P.S. I hid an allusion in here to, if someone can find it I will see about making another lemon one-shot on the side for Ren and Bane. Whence the story is finished, of course.**

 **Chapter 18: Kill**

Ren was yet to open her eyes, simply out of fear that she would not find who she had fallen asleep with. She had heard no breath alongside her, she had felt no warmth at her backside, no skin on skin contact, but she wished for a moment that he would be there. Instead she amused herself with the idea that he was there, that he hadn't turned back into a monster, or fly away like Cupid. But the smile that caressed her sleepy features danced off of her lips and traveled away, somewhere she would never find it again.

He wasn't there, she knew he wasn't there and he certainly wasn't in the bathroom showering, or in the kitchen making food. She didn't want to believe it, but she knew. It wasn't just a sense, it was a deep feeling, a wrench painfully unscrewing her heart from its place in her chest. She tightened her grip on the white covers that she held firmly to her chest, her back facing the other side of the bed. Her eyes clenched shut and her lips started to tremble, with her eyes still closed a senseless tear came down from the very rim of her right eye. In her sideways position it slid down her cheek, leaving a river in its wake. She sniffled and wiped it away with the sheets, slowly rising up and turning her body straight. She didn't open her eyes, she held the covers right to her breasts and with one hand reached for the other side of the bed. Her hand went through thin air until her palm touched the inner side of cold snowy fabric. Her eyelids bated over her vision before creaking open, her body trembling as her tear stained face came upon the barren spot beside her. She gulped and then averted her gaze to the blank wall ahead of the foot of the bed.

 _R'as al Ghul had told her that everyone had their balancing point and that his was his daughter. The balancing point is something that brings you both pain and joy, how Ren had associated this pond with those things in her life she had never known._

Ren's mind had drifted to the pond as words as clear as day came running through her mind.

 _She had thought of many reasons as to why the pond signified such things to her and most importantly it signified more. This was where R'as had taught her how to fight with a katana, this was where she ran off to when Bane had yelled at her for not completing her duties..._

Bane.

 _...then of course this was a pond._

Bane was her balancing point; he was there to test her, there to force her past her limits. He was there to bring heartbreak, to make her sad, to make her strong and independent. He was there to throw her in a pit, there to hug her and protect her. He had always been her balancing point, it was never the pond. It was him.

 _"Master, if you could go back in time and change your life, what would you do differently?"_ Ren had said.

 _"There are moments in which I wish I could go back in time and take all the sadness away, but I have a feeling that if I did, all the joy would be gone with it."_

 _..._

 _She didn't have to see to know who it was, the sound of an inverted breath and the feel of strong bricks beneath her was enough to give her a hint. It was Bane and instead of guarding Talia as he should have been, he had been guarding her._

He had been there for her ups and downs, he had been there to tell her the truth and one day he would be there to tell her he loved her. But he didn't promise and that made her hurt. Then again, that meant nothing, he brought her happiness and that made her forget the hurt. It made her forget the scar on her abdomen, the darkness in the pit of her soul, the loneliness. It made her remember that she was still a human, sometimes she would forget that fact.

Ren wiped her tears away with a shaky finger, she stood up from the bed, the sheets crawling from her body with silent cries.

Her eyes darted to the case at the corner of the room. Empty. And then she remembered that the swords had been left on the kitchen counter after... Ren tried not to blush as memories came surging back between her nerves, she had more important matters to handle.

She then began searching the floor for her discarded garments; underwear was all that she could find in the bedroom so she went on her way towards the kitchen. She remained cautious, she wouldn't make the same mistake as last night. Although not recognizing that another was in the penthouse was perhaps that one mistake she would never regret.

She tiptoed into the kitchen area, bare with only her underwear on. She picked her bra up off of the floor, then her leggings and her long-sleeved shirt. She wondered why Bane hadn't had the manners to pick them up for her before he left. He was in a hurry, the recesses of her mind assured her. He regretted nothing. Right?

She felt a slight pinch of sorrow at her back at the delicate remembrance that he had left her to awaken alone. Once she was dressed in her attire she had managed to find her boots neatly sitting side by side on the counter beside her swords. She was grateful that Bane hadn't taken them with him in retaliation of her and whatever she might have done to make him leave. She shook her head, he couldn't have left because of her, right? She tried to push all thoughts of him away, she really needed to focus on the tasks at hand.

She slid on her boots and tucked the leggings in before grabbing the sheath and wrapping it around her shoulder. She then began towards the elevator, subconsciously pressing the button that had been stained by her fingerprints many times over. She did everything out of pure routine, she had been down this elevator a lot before the events of the pit. However, she realized that this would be the last time she would ever set foot in this exact elevator, more likely this exact building.

She didn't flinch when the elevator called her name and opened up to the icy lobby of the tower. She saw familiar faces; mercenaries, members of the league of shadows, individuals that had respected her, individuals that thought she was dead. They looked on, straight faces turning into wide eyes and dropped jaws. She tried to pay no attention to them, she needed to meet up with Foley and the other officers. They were so stunned that no one apprehended her as she crossed the distance from the elevator to the clear glass doors. Some of them gulped as she passed, others kept their lips tight and their expressions only as shocked as they allowed, but the surprise written between the lines was obvious.

Exiting the building released a weight on her chest that she hadn't known was there, it made her look back once to the past and then forward to the task at hand. John would have released the police officers already and Foley would be preparing them for the biggest fight Gotham would ever see: to the courthouse she went.

* * *

Judgement day. Empty streets, dust in the air, snow lining the sidewalks, God silently whistling the tune of death. Ren was familiar with the day, the time of day as the sun peeked over the high skylines, and the exact moment the tip of her boot touched cold asphalt. She wasn't rushing with her steps, focused and patient as she crossed a series of streets and alley ways to get to her destination.

Her steps were interrupted by a familiar face: John, he was making his way back from the tunnels leading into the sewers. The cops were out and they were ready. He saw her from across the street, just down that street would be the courthouse. It was unusually silent at the courthouse, not a soul roamed aside from the few mercenaries that were patrolling, a majority of them inside the building. It was no surprise to Ren, why would anybody waste their time with politics and justice on their last day?

John grabbed her arm and pulled her into an alley way as he came up by her side with one steady stride.

"Where were you?" He asked with a worried undertone, she parted her lips to say something, but her throat closed up and no words came out. He shook his head breathlessly, the exhaustion and adrenaline alike weighing down on him. "I've been looking all over for you. Come on, we have to go get people out of here." John tugged on her arm, but she wouldn't budge.

"I have to stay here John and fight. I went to retrieve these." She pulled her arm gently from John's grasp and brought it up to grab a handle of one katana. She slid it up from its sheath at her back, it made a sifting noise once free of its home.

"Are you crazy? They have rifles, turrets, and tanks, while you brought swords." Ren didn't reply and sheathed the blade again. "Look, the men don't have weapons. This is a suicide mission, we need to go and get the kids out of here before the bomb goes off."

"I'm sorry, John, but I came here with a task and I intend on completing it. Go." She placed a hand on his shoulder and nudged him in the direction he had been going. "Save them."

"What about you? What if you don't make it?"

"Sometimes you have to have faith in the impossible." She said, then turned and continued towards the courthouse. John watched as she left shortly after, then he went sprinting in the direction of the orphanage. The mercenaries had started to exit the building in masses as the officers began to form an army not far from the steps themselves. The crowd of Gotham's finest parted as she made her way towards the front, to her surprise there stood Foley.

"How nice it is to see you again?" He greeted with a strong reluctance. Her lip quirked up and she shook her head, stopping beside Foley to scan the defensive populous of mercenaries. He eased his glove-clad hands over the creases in his uniform, sweat pouring from his brow in the cool air.

"We might die today." She said softly, Foley's expression showed unease at her words. He glanced over at her to find that she was completely stoic, her eyes narrowed in their destination.

"I k-know." He stuttered out with a sigh. "I said my goodbyes." He bit his bottom lip and closed his eyes for a brief moment.

"At least you have people to say goodbye to." She replied, trying hard not to remember Bane's absence that morning.

"I just wanted to say..." He cleared his throat and straightened his arms at his sides. "Thank you."

"For what?" He shrugged.

"For helping us fight back."

"But I am the reason you are here." She retorted, tilting her head in his direction for an answer. He was staring at her with a firm expression, shaking his head.

"We both know that's not true." Foley had grown to respect Ren and to her that was important. She crossed her arms, no more words were needed, more mercenaries pouring out of the courthouse. Tanks rolled in, directing their turrets towards the officers. Barsad peaked out from the front of the crowd, his rifle hanging across his vest and a speaker phone in hand. The mercenaries began to unite behind him as they too formed an army across from the officers.

"Disperse. Disperse. Or be fired upon." He shouted into the speaker, waiting patiently for the cops to do as he said. Ren took a deep breath and a cautious step forward, the others followed.

"There is only one police in this city." Foley said. Bane exited the courthouse, holding the lapels of his brown coat and watching intently as the crowd moved forward. Ren's eyes locked onto his and the world seemed silent and still for a moment, but Bane quickly looked away, waving his hand.

"Open Fire." He ordered carelessly, before stepping away and back into the courthouse. Ren clenched back tears, her fists tightening at her sides. One of the Tumblers aimed its turret a the army of cops and opened fire, Ren didn't run away as cops flew back several feet and others began to separate from the group. She took another steady step forward, her teeth clenched, she reached up to pull both katanas from their holster on her back. She held them out, the police scattered around. The Bat wing came gliding out over the crowd, it's weapon blasting the two tumblers that had opened fire. The cops collected themselves and began to shout in jumbled words of rebellion throwing their fists in the air. They started sprinting towards the group of mercenaries, the mercenaries doing the same.

This was war.

Ren stopped walking as cops came flooding forward from behind her, one after the other. Her blades remained gripped in her hands as she looked up and saw thrown fists and wild kicks. This battle wouldn't be about how much power one had, but what one could do. Her eyes darted to the stairs of the courthouse.

She had somewhere to be.


	19. LIES

**I have finally finished this story, I will post the epilogue tonight. I hope you all have enjoyed it. I plan on writing up a prequel, I already have some ideas for what is going to take place in this so called 'prequel'.**

 **Hopefully this chapter makes sense, I tried my best to capture what Ren was feeling.**

 **Plus, the allusion in the last chapter was actually:**

...that he hadn't turned back into a monster, or fly away like Cupid.

 **Cupid was Aphrodite's son, who fell in love with a human that his mother was very jealous of due to her beauty. He married her in the form of a monster to trick his mother into thinking that the young woman was being punished, she could never see her true husband. In an attempt to kill him while he is sleeping, she notices that Cupid is, in fact, not a monster and she falls in love with him too. Cupid wakes up and flies away in fear of what his mother might do to him if she were to find out.**

 **Chapter 19: Lie**

Ren detached herself from every soul that she met on her way up to the courthouse. Her blade wrung through body after body of mercenaries as she climbed to the top. She threw punches and kicks, anyone that stood in her path fell shortly after. She was ruthless. For a split second in her life she felt an uncontrollable rage, it was pouring out of her. She hadn't killed someone in months, she hadn't been subjected to blood and wrath in what felt like ages. In this moment she knew that she wasn't Ren, she was the monster her father hadn't wanted her to be.

Several steps further and she was at the top of the tall staircase, glaring into the glass that belonged to the swinging doors of the courthouse and capturing her reflection. She gripped the blades firmly in her grasp before stomping forward. Her breath ragged and her throat dry, the ruckus from the war that was going on became muffled behind the doors. The courthouse was vacant, the only two residing within it were Talia and Bane.

She could see them staring at her, a look on their faces that made her feel helpless. Ren stepped forward and Talia rose her left hand, within it she held the trigger that would decide the cities fate. Ren suddenly felt heartbroken; first she had lost her father, the day that they heard of his death Talia and Ren sat together sipping tea. It was silent the entire time. She had finally knew the emptiness of having nothing an no one. Both Bane and her sister, lost, thrown out of her life so quickly. She could see the criticism on Bane's face: the mask didn't do such a good job in hiding it. It was as if last night was a dream and seeing the look on Talia's face made her wish it was.

"Don't take another step forward." Talia warned, her voice was shaky. She was trying hard to hide the surprise, but Ren could see it. "You were supposed to be dead." Or at least Ren thought she could. It seemed as if Reality and Fiction had collided and she couldn't tell what was what.

"How do you know I am not a ghost?" Talia didn't answer, so Ren made the decision to place her blades gently down on the tiles beside her. Bane pulled his coat off and tossed it to the side, his eyes narrowing on the glass doors that entered the courthouse.

"Go ahead." Talia said. "Don't let him get in." Bane then stomped out of the courthouse, he didn't even look back. Talia revealed a knife from behind her back, her other hand holding it up to aim at Ren. Ren closed her eyes as calmly as she could, she took a deep breath.

"I have always known that you were my sister..." Talia began and this piece of information causing her ears to twitch and her eyes to shootout open. The scowl on Talia's face all that came into

view. "My father was talking about it with Bane a while back. He told Bane that you were to be his heir. It was late and they had thought I was asleep, I heard everything."

"Talia." Ren's voice was cold and monotone, she couldn't feel any emotion. It was as if she had grown prone to such feelings, she had lost the will to care. "We can stop this. You and I, we can travel back to where the temple once stood. Build a new one in honor of the great Ra's Al Ghul. Bane can come to, we can be happy tog-"

"Shut up!" Talia shouted, she shook her head. "How stupid do you think I am?!" Ren lowered her gaze. How could she? To her own sister? She had betrayed Talia and had stooped to Talia's level. Bane never loved her, he never cared about her. "All these years you thought you had your emotions under control, that no one knew what you were thinking..." Talia snorted, but she didn't smile. "Well it was far too obvious. Whenever you were near Bane you looked like an attention lacking whiny little bitch in heat." Ren was taken aback, she had never heard such foul language ever leave Talia's lips

before. "Bane confessed to me that you were alive and I didn't believe him at first, I was shocked when you walked through that door. So dedicated to a cause and suddenly so willing to go against it. Well now I know." She gestured to Ren with the knife. "You survived the pit and even better you got what you wanted. Right? Sadly, however, Bane had never meant it." Ren's eyes widened and her entire resolve crushed into pieces. "He never really meant last night. I wanted him to make you believe that he loved you, but he doesn't." She stumbled backwards, holding a hand over the mental pain that ripped through her heart. "Honestly, how could he? He is mine, remember?"

He had warned Ren.

 _"Go.." He gestured towards the sliding glass door and cocked his head. "Before I am forced to do what I have tried not to do in the past."_

It wasn't about killing her, it was about breaking her. He was hesitant.

 _"I know you won't say it back because you can't, but promise me that one day you will. That you do love me. It eases my mind, being with you helps me think clearly."_

 _"You want me to promise something like that..." He took a deep breath. "When the very likely hood of us not blowing up tomorrow is so opaque."_

He was trying to protect Ren. But why would he go on with it? Why would he break her heart to such an extent? He was so believable. And yet she still felt that hint of adoration and respect. She still loved Bane.

"No!" Ren yelled out, her face had gone red, tears running down her face. Her legs gave out on her and she fell to her knees. "You lie."

"He doesn't love you." Ren sink her fingers through her hair and ducked down to the ground. "I told him to make you happy because I wanted this. I wanted you to feel hopeless and lost, dead almost." Ren felt fingers grab at the strands attached the back of her head and pull her head up. "All these years you have been better than me..." She whispered, crouching down to Ren's level. "All these years father has favored you. He would be disappointed now. He would see how weak you have become and how strong I am compared to you." Talia put the blade to Ren's throat, Ren's eyes creased.

"Just do it." She whispered. "Take me out of my misery." The doors entering the courthouse were flung open, Bane being dragged in by the Batman himself.

"Where is the Trigger?!" Batman shouted, his growling voice flushing Talia's attention away from Ren. Ren's hair was released and she dropped forward onto the ground. She closed her eyes, hearing the deafening crunch of Bane's ventilation tubes being punched open. While lying on the floor, Ren looked up and her eyes met Bane's.

Air was sifting through the open tubes in his mask and Bane's attention turned back to Bruce.

"I broke you. How have you come back?" Bane asked in between heavy gasps of air.

"You thought you were the only one who could learn the strength to escape." Bane's eyes squinted in confusion and Batman threw another punch.

"I never escaped..." Bane heaves out, his body writhes upward and he groans in pain. "Ra's Al Ghul rescued me. That is why I must fulfill his plan. That is why I must avenge his murderer." Batman blinked in confusion, his grip on Bane's vest loosened.

"The child of Ra's Al Ghul made the climb-"

"But he is not the child of Ra's Al Ghul." Batman turned and Talia stabbed a knife up into his abdomen.

"No!" Ren screamed, holding a hand out to Batman as he fell to his knees. Gotham's only hope was bowing before Talia. Talia explained it to him, explained all of it and Ren saw the pain in his expression. He looked as heartbroken as Ren was, Ren turned onto her back and stared at the high ceilings of the building. Talia finished her speech, she pieced Bane's mask together before leaving the building.

"Now you know I have to kill you." Ren pushed herself up onto her feet. She watched as Bane grabbed Batman by the neck and lifted him up.

"Bane." She muttered, he paused and glanced over his shoulder at her.

"Don't do this." She was so tired. She was so tired of feeling. She was so tired of being in love. It was obvious, more obvious than how tired she had looked the day before.

"I have to do this." She looked down and just as Bane was about to kill the Batman. The savior of Gotham. The man who Ren had grown to respect. Bruce. A loud blast was heard and Bane was sent flying across the floor into the nearest wall, he slumped over. Ren looked over to see Selina Kyle on the Bat bike.

Everything was going in slow motion; Batman was gone, Selina with him, and Bane still sat motionless against the wall. She was breathing heavily, hyperventilating, the reality of the situation finally hitting her. She jumped in shock and went sprinting over to Bane. She fell onto the floor and went crawling over to him, she yanked him onto her lap.

"Bane..." She said softly, her hands caressed his bald head. He was so heavy and lifeless, but she didn't mind at this point. She couldn't care about such little things. She could only care about him. She looked down into his calm features and she froze in fear.

She could see a dark tunnel.

She could see a beaming light at the end and she wanted to run towards it.

She knew it would set her free and when she got to the end she could see Bane. He didn't have a mask and he would open his arms and she would run into them.

She would be pregnant and they would be in love.

He would be alive.

He would be okay.

She moved her fingers over the gaping hole that sat at Bane's abdomen, her fingers tentatively touched his blood and she cringed. A tear slide down her cheek as she looked at the liquid on her finger tip, it felt so warm.

His hand was on hers, bandaged and firm, but gentle and loving. She was so afraid. She glanced back into his eyes, the dark blotches that peaked through those slits. Bane was tired too. He was tired of everything.

"It was never meant to be like this." She spoke to him, he groaned as he reached his hand up to her cheek and caressed her cheek.

"If it has happened than it was always meant to be." She broke out into sobs, she was so scared. She had never been this afraid since her father had...

"Shhh..." He grunted out, shifting on her thighs to make himself more comfortable. "Don't cry Ren. You are strong."

"I am not strong, I never was. I am afraid, I have always been afraid. I'm so weak."

"Ren." He croaked out more strictly, his hand snatching hers again and his grip was threatening. "You're strength comes from your humanity, not your weakness. Your emotions are the things that both Talia and I had always lacked."

"You feel it too, you have to." It was silent. She wasn't pleading for him to confess to his emotions as a human, but as a lover. He had never known that this would be the day.

"Tell me your secrets, Ren. I want to hear your voice when I die, I want to hear your thoughts." She pulled his hand to her chest and held it there, sniffling. She didn't question him, she wanted to hear his secrets.

"When I was little..." Her voce cracked and her featured wrinkled into tears. "I use to go to this pond. I considered it my balancing point, but it was the never the pond it was always you." His eyes closed, but a shaky breath flew from the mask. It was raining inside the courthouse, drowning Ren to the brink of her death. "I envied Talia. I use to want to kiss your lips, see your face." She turned her head away, to ashamed to continue.

"Continue." He demanded tersely, his breath was coming out much less even now.

"The first man I killed, he had a family." She brought his knuckles up to her lips and kissed them. "It reminded me of my father. I wanted to kill myself for it." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, her body rising and falling with the movement. "I got my name Shadow because I would kill in silence, undetected. But really I was hiding from my true self." She snorted as a thought came to her mind, how could she suddenly be so amused? "I would wait for you to exit the shower, so I could see you go from one side of the penthouse to the other."

"I know." He nodded his head, but it didn't look like this amused him. Her smile was brought down again and she tightened her grip on his hand, kissing a knuckle again. She bit her bottom lip and glared at him, but not out of rage, merely disbelief.

"Did you use me?" His eyes opened and his head tilted onto its side. His hand rose up to grab her chin and his thumb caressed the skin there.

"Ren, I lo..." His words were caught on his tongue for eternity and his hand drifted away. His eyes still staring at her, but the spirit within them was gone and dull. She continued to stare at those eyes, until her face became blank. Her hand reached up to cover his eyes and slid down his eyelids, he slumped over as she gently pushed him off his lap.

She leaned over his body and pressed a kiss to the valves of his mask, pressing her forehead against his for a split moment.

"I love you too." She stood up hesitantly and released a breath she didn't know she was holding. She turned and left the courthouse, she sat outside on the top steps and waited for the city to explode around her. Nothing happened and no more than an hour later was she met with the familiar face of John. He sat beside her, looking out at the wreckage, at the faces of dead mercenaries and police officers alike laying about the front of the courthouse. Those that survived had ran off to their families or their once stolen home or to their destiny.

"Ren." He called into the silence that had been built before his arrival. "The charges haven't been dropped yet. You might want to leave before-"

"My name isn't Ren." She interrupted, she looked up to the sky. "My real name is Alugana Al' Ghul." John didn't reply quite as suddenly as she had expected him to. Instead he held his hand out to her, a sign of trust and admiration.

"My real name isn't John..." He gulped. "It's Robin." She took his hand and shook it, he pulled his hand away and the corner of his lip quirked up.

"Do you maybe want to go out for a drink or something? At least until you find a way out or..." He trailed off when she stared off into the distance.

"I don't love you, Robin." She spoke truthfully and Robin's lips parted in surprise. "The man I loved is dead and now I have to suffer the consequences that are laid out before me."

"But they will put you to death. You have committed treason."

"This city was never mine to take and all of my colleagues are dead. I am the one who must accept the punishment, someone has to."

"Are you sure about this?" She nodded and her face appeared serene, calm, collected. She didn't forget to feel, she merely forgot to hide.

"I have never been more sure about something in my entire life." Robin was at a loss for words and she noticed, she scooted over, closer to him. She took his hand and made his palm face upwards, he turned his head in her direction. She caressed the patterns on her skin, the indent of the crest that resided that the center of his hand. "Thank you." He didn't know what she meant, what any of it meant. But she smiled, genuinely, and to his surprise he smiled back.


	20. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Alugana Al' Ghul was brought to trial, she pleaded guilty and had chosen not to accept a lawyer from the state. She was charged guilty for her crimes against Gotham and for the many deaths that had come by her influence, including Bane's murders as well. On the day of her execution by the gas chamber, Commisioner Gordon had arrived with pardon from the new Mayor of Gotham city himself.

She was taken away from the chains of justice and thrown into the popularity of politics. The city that had once hated her had fallen in love with her and she was a hero. She was no Batman, but to the city they considered her the remains of his purpose. They had hoped she would take his place, instead Alugana left. She thanked the Commissioner by giving him one of her father's blades and gave the other to John. She left Gotham with a promise that she would never return. She left America. She went Home.

...

Sometimes she would walk to the pond, she would stare at the waters and be at peace. She would smile and laugh at jokes, sometimes swim around in those same waters. Off in the distance, following the path, there lead to the great dojo of the League of Shadows. She had spent years building it, but it was never alone. Bane with her in spirit and he was with her in his son.

God was real. She could see it in the things that happened around her and all of her pain was worth it. She could see it in the things that her son was capable of. He was so strong. Her students just as much, but she favored him as her own blood. She would sit by the pond and tell him stories, he would sometimes cry and laugh. He would sometimes ask about his father and she would say, "He was a great man."

She never lied to him, she never left out a single detail when telling her son about all that her father had committed. He loved his father despite all these truths. Bane would have wanted him to know the truth anyways.

She told her son about Talia, the sister she had always wanted and had always had. She had loved and cared about deeply. The sister who had become corrupt with the very power that Ra's was trying to end.

She told her son about John and Gordon, about Bruce Wayne and most especially about Gotham.

She traveled to the pit in an attempt to retrieve Nazir. She had meant to save him from the darkness, but he was too far gone.

"My death will be in this hell and that is what has been chosen for me."

She taught the youngest in the village, but she never forced them to stay. She could never be her false father. She could never be like the man that killed her mother and her siblings.

She never told her son about this man, but he would ask of course. He would ask about the scars and she would tell him that they were her strength. They reminded her of what she never wanted to be and he would look at her with great understanding and love.

He was so smart. Like his father.

She would sit by this pond and wish that Bane was here. She would wish that Talia had never turned and that Ra's was never killed. But in the end as she watched her son learn the ways of the shadow alongside his companions, as she watched the wind drift across the waters of the pond, as she watched the ice freeze over and the snow start to fall, as she watched the sun rise and her entire world melt.

This was her balancing point.

She knew that without losing all of them, without losing the past, she never would have had him. He was the greatest thing that had ever happened to her. She thanked Bane every night as much as she had thanked the highest entity. She use to never believe that God was real, but through all that she has experienced and for it all to end in happiness... It was proof that he did.

And the gift that had been given to her would never be harmed.

His name was Sa'za.

Her name was Alugana.

And Ren was never heard of again.

 **The End.**

 **I hope you all have enjoyed this story. I really have loved writing it, but I don't want to stop writing about Ren and the rest of the gang so there will definitely be a prequel once I work out the wrinkles in the plot.**


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